RAIFA

Fete des Fleurs 2011

2011-10-28T08:19:00.000-07:00

Once again a young lady from Radlett was transformed into a Princess in France! This year our representative at the annual Féte des Fleurs in Louvecinnes was Jessica Laxton. Her mother, Jane Poyser, who accompanied her provided this account of their visit:

My daughter Jessica her friend Anna and I had the privilege of being invited to the annual flower festival at Louveciennes. We drove down Saturday morning catching the 8. 20 train. With clear roads we drove down arriving 1. 30 at our host Benoit's house. After being greeted by the family we were treated to a whirlwind tour of Paris. Benoit in a previous life had been a

limousine driver for the rich and famous and knew Paris inside out. We visited the Eiffel Tower, Place de Concorde, Le Louvre and some very exclusive shopping areas which had 5 foot chocolate pencils and £65.00 boxer shorts!

That evening we joined the torch parade back at Louveciennes, in the pouring rain. This did not stop the local student band playing enthusiastically but it did stop one of the tractors getting up the steep hill ! The rain stopped in time for one of the best firework displays I have ever seen in my life. Backdropped with beautiful trees and set to classical music, it was breath taking.

The next day there was a lunch which the whole village attended! We met many lovely people in Louveciennes all of whom knew of Radlett, many of whom had visited! All of them spoke beautiful English. Jess disappeared with Madame Rachel, the German princess and French queen to be transformed!

Anna and I took the chance to walk around the fun fair and the beautiful and historic village. At 2.30 the floats were loaded and started their journey around the town. The theme this year was impressionists and the floats were all decorated with thousands of dahlia heads. Jess was in the last float with the "Queen and German princess, looking gorgeous despite being covered in confetti and "sticky string". (a custom to shower the floats in stuff!) We were

entertained by bands and majorettes who amazingly kept going for the two and half hours! The evening finished with presentations by the Mayor and Jess received a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a silver bracelet. We were all overwhelmed by the amount of effort and time people had put into this amazing weekend, it really felt a huge privilege to be part of it.

Report of visit to Aldenham

2011-07-14T01:22:00.000-07:00

Our friends in Lautertal have posted a report on their recent visit to Radlett on their website (all in German) with lots of pictures.

See http://www.bergstrasse.de/apeg-lautertal/ and select Aktuelles

APEG Visit to Radlett & Aldenham

2011-06-29T04:38:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we welcomed a group of visitors from APEG, the town twinning organisation in Lautertal to celebrate 30 years of twinning with the Parish of Aldenham. The twenty eight visitors, ranging in age from 12 to 80, from Lautertal in Hesse, Germany stayed with families in Radlett and took part in a busy programme of visits and events arranged by RAIFA.

These included a visit to the Radlett Art Society's annual exhibition at the Radlett Centre, and an official welcome from Aldenham Parish Council in the Council chamber. This was followed by a visit to Bhakdavidanta Manor in Letchmore Heath and Aldenham church. In the evening we held an English Folk Dance evening with a fish and chip supper in the Vision Hall in Watling Street, Radlett.

On the Sunday they visited the Olympic Park in Stratford and Camden Market and had a sight-seeing tour of London in between. The visit ended on Monday in St Albans where they visited the Abbey and Clock Tower as well as having some time for shopping.

The visitors arrived in the rain but left with temperatures of 30 degrees and sunshine. RAIFA Chairman Clive Glover said the whole visit had been very enjoyable for everyone involved and they were all looking forward to the next 30 years of exchanges between the two communities.

Some pictures of the visit are below:

Councillor Chris Wilkins receives a gift from Lautertal

Arrival in rainy Radlett!

Presentation to Joan Doughty for her years of work for RAIFA as secretary

Visitors and hosts at Bhakdavanta Manor

Viewing the Olympic Park, Stratford

A gift for Lautertal

The Singing Circle in Dunaharaszti - an alternative view!

2011-05-25T08:10:00.000-07:00

The youngest member of the Singing Circle group was 7 years old. He has also written an account of the trip, which we have kept exactly as he wrote it!

On Thursday, my Mum and some singing girls and I went to Luton Airport and then tooke a flight to bood pest. Booda pest is made of 3 towns witch is buda, obuda and pest. Wen we arrived we went on a coach. It was a very old coach it took 50 minits to get to our hotel. We then payed for our rooms. Me and my Mum got room 750. We then went back down the sters to get our key Wen we got our key we were told that you can not pass without telling how long you are gowing to be hir for and I said 4 days. The next day we took another coach to doonaresty and sang 7 songs and the children that can speeck a bit of English sang Sooper Trooper with us. It took abowt 1 hour and a half. Then we had 7 minits braik and then we went back on the coach and the coach took us to a restront for starter was salad and for the main cors it was smoakt pork. With bread and no disert and no helthy stuf. No one finish it becaus the plait was 2 cm long and 3 milymeeters long. Then we went to cary oaky but Mum said I cant go and then I got grumpy and angry and frustraited. Because I had never ever ever bin to cary oaky in my intyer life. When we got out side my Mum and me felt sick, we felt very sick indeed. When we got to our room, we went to the fridj under the telly my Mum fond some medisin for feeling sick but from 12 on wuds wen my mum drank some she felt much beter and then she finish the whole botl.

Then Mum went to sleep. The next day Mum woak me up, and told me to put on my singing circle teechirt on. We took the lift from flor 7 becaus if you have a number with 3 numbers in it for example 715 wood be the number that your door number is wat it really is. Then we went to flor six to have breckfast. I had toasted bread with strabery jam wich i spread on the bread and then I had graips and sosigis. Then we went to the bath’s. There was a swimming pool, a tiny cold ice bath , it was 16 degrees. Ther was a very hot bath, a steem room that was very stinky and you can see nothing, then we sor people get hanged under water. You can even get a masarj or a masarj in the water then we went to our hotel and went to sleep.

The next day we went to go on a bike tore but they ran out of childrens biks so we went to an italyan plays and eat pizza and then we went on a hop on hop off bus. We went over 19 bridjis and 18 streets, there were thirteen stops and there was a boat tore but we coodent go bicaus it took them 2 hours to make a pizza. For disert we had tirimisoo, with a minte life on it. And milyons of coacoa powder on it. Then my Mum took me to a market and boute me a seecret box. It is locked from the insid. You half to find a key and the lock but ther is another key and lock to find in the box.

Visit from Lautertal

2011-05-25T07:58:00.000-07:00

We are making the final preparations for the visit of a party from Lautertal to commemorate the 30th anniversary of our twinning. This follows our visit to Germany last year.

The party will be in Radlett from 24 to 27 June and their programme will include a special visit to the Olympic Park in London as well as a number of events in and around Radlett and Aldenham.

The Singing Circle in Dunaharaszti

2011-05-25T07:49:00.000-07:00

Kate Honeywell, a member of Radlett's Singing Circle was one of the group who visited Dunaharaszti in Hungary last month and here she explains what happened.

On April 14^th 2011, less than a year after Radlett hosted a school choir from Dunaharaszti, 15 women, three teenage girls and a seven year old boy queued excitedly at Luton Airport for the EasyJet flight to Budapest and our turn to be the guests. Armed with two specially learned Hungarian songs and a clear programme of our performances and leisure activities we were anticipating an excellent cultural experience. So it proved to be thanks to the liaison between our director Helen Lappert and Suzanna Connett, our Dunaharaszti contact, and the hard work of Sue Vale, our planner and coordinator, assisted by Singing Circle members with local knowledge and contacts.

After a warm welcome at Budapest airport from Marian, an English teacher, and Gabor, a music teacher, both of whom had come to us in 2010, we travelled by coach over the River Danube to our hotel. The Danube bisects the city into the hilly side (Buda) and the flat side (Pest) with several fine bridges joining the two. As the hotel was in Buda and our programme largely spent in Pest or beyond in Dunaharaszti we were to cross this beautiful, though not blue, river many more times over the four days, on cheap, clean efficient trams, on buses provided by our hosts or on foot.

Our first encounter with Hungarian food was an enormous shank each of smoked pork which none of us could finish, to the disappointment of our karaoke bar hosts. However, honour was later satisfied when we sang our Hungarian numbers with some of their regulars. Later still some of us discovered just how effective the herbal concoction in the intriguing little green phials in our hotel minibars was at counteracting the effects of rich food!

Friday began with an early warm-up and practice in our hotel, a scenic bus journey and then a full day in the pretty town of Dunaharaszti, where we were beautifully looked after by everyone we met starting with the staff and children at the primary school. On low tables in the classroom set aside for us were bottles of still and sparkling water and bowls of delicious little cheese snacks, like scones but much lighter. We were regularly offered these during the trip.

Although they were in their own clothes, aged 11 to 14, and clearly excited as they filed into the school hall where we were waiting on the stage, the children were a joy. Under the instruction of Suzanna, who teaches English at this ‘primary’ school, the children had worked hard to learn the lyrics to Abba’s Super Trouper and were keen to demonstrate their new-found skills. With Suzanna translating for Helen and the head teacher we had a delightful informal workshop with plenty of opportunities for the children to sing together with us. Other staff were either in the hall with cameras or creeping in at the back every few minutes. The event was neatly rounded off for us when we were walking to lunch and saw a picture of ourselves on a poster announcing our visit.

Lunch was a splendid leisurely buffet in a large, airy restaurant, courtesy of the mayor. To finish we were offered shots of a traditional take your-breath-away clear drink Palinka which some of us rather took to and named ‘firewater’. Afterwards we strolled through the town, ending up at their music school in the early evening ready to participate in a formal concert. The deputy mayor made a welcoming speech, we were treated to a variety of classical, jazz, pop, and traditional music by their orchestra and choir, a Hungarian folk group and several soloists and then we were on, singing with yet another group of youngsters. They did well with the music we had sent ahead and were kind about our rendition of the two Hungarian songs so we climbed back into our coach feeling good about our day in Dunaharaszti. Back in Buda the night was still young so some had supper at an attractive restaurant nearby whilst others sampled our hotel’s cuisine.

Our next engagement was not until Saturday evening so this was the day for experiencing the world famous Gellert thermal baths, starting with champagne in the dressing room, and then either swimming, wandering through the amazing Roman atria, steaming, chilling, being massaged by men or all of the above – in our case wearing bathrobes and swimsuits. In the afternoon we climbed the steep hill from the Gellert hotel to the Liberation Monument, the huge statue of a woman with upraised arms that looks out over the Danube from Buda. She holds a mighty palm leaf in an arch over her head and was erected by Russia to celebrate the replacement of the Nazi occupation by the Soviet one. She is awe-inspiring like so much that we saw in Budapest.

The architecture in the city was overwhelming particularly for those who had never visited an Eastern Bloc country and for the two of us old enough to remember the 1956 Hungarian uprising against the Soviets. The inevitable Tesco Express, Macdonalds and a Lidl made no impact against the majestic stonemasonry all around us, mostly old but a few equally impressive modern structures.

On Sunday we had the chance, on bicycles and buses, to make up for daydreaming away school sessions on the rise and fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Dry textbooks came alive as we visited specially preserved sites like Heroes’ Square, the Terror Museum, the Liberation Monument, and learned the chequered history of a nation with a past of invading or being invaded, of great power or terrible repression, of glories and suffering, of Asian origins and waves of later European influences. Some of these events happened within living memory and there was a general feeling amongst us of longing to know more.

But before that fascinating last day we had our last engagement to fulfil. We had been invited to ‘sing for our supper’ in a wine cellar underneath a bar in Üröm, north of Budapest. Once more we hopped onto a coach and over the Danube into the countryside for an evening that turned out to be the most fun of our entire visit. The landlord and his team served us great bowls of steaming goulash and drinks, including a tray of firewater shots. Whilst we ate they entertained us, beginning with the landlord in fine voice doing Elvis. They were such good musicians and knew so many familiar songs, that Helen quickly revised our planned performance. We did give them the liveliest numbers from our repertoire but mostly we all made music together and had a party, a few following the landlord’s lead in lubricating our throats with firewater. A lovely surprise was Sarah who borrowed a guitar and sang some of her own compositions with her mother, Helen, and another of the teenagers, Yasmin, for one or two of them. Our hosts complimented them, and then praised Sam who is only 7 but joined in tunefully with everything, and then thanked us. We complimented and thanked them. It was a truly cultural exchange and a delightful finale to our singing programme.

The Singing Circle in action!

Suzanna and Helen after the concert!

See more photos on our Picasa Album

Local TV programmes, showed both the school singalong and the complete evening performance.
See them here:

http://kisdunatv.hu/?bepa=videok/2011/201116/HIREK&befn=2011_16_radlettihir.flv&beft=HÍREK

http://kisdunatv.hu/?bepa=videok/2011/201116/MAGAZIN&befn=2011_16_galaestradletti.flv&beft=MAGAZIN

30th Anniversary Visit to Lautertal

2010-10-01T06:47:00.000-07:00

The Felsenmeer on a misty day!

A group of 20 RAIFA members spent a long weekend (from Thursday to Monday!) in Lautertal from 23rd to 27th September to celebrate the 30th anniversary of our first twinning arrangement. Three of our party had been in the original group visiting Lautertal way back in 1980.

As ever, it was a very busy time for us all, taking in a visit to the artists' quarter of Darmstadt, a cabaret performance by Brünhild, a visit to a local brewery, the fantastic "Felsenmer in Flammen" son et lumiere presentation, dedicating a new twinning tree and culminating in breakfast at Schönberg Castle, former home of Queen Victoria's grandfather, the Duke of Erbach-Schönberg.

Below are some pictures of the visit

Schmuker Brewery

Well, you have to try it don't you!

Welcome to Darmstadt

Russian church, Darmstadt

Watering the new twinning tree

Brünhild - beware- don't mess with her!

A present from the Parish of Aldenham

The Victoria Lime Tree - planted by the Queen herself

Shönberg Castle

Féte des Fleurs, 18/19 September 2010

2010-10-01T06:17:00.000-07:00

Once again we sent a representative from RAIFA to be the Maid of Honour at the annual Féte des Fleurs festival in Louveciennes. Priscilla Meigh reports:

Under a clear blue sky and warm September sun, my ten year old daughter Emily and I spent a wonderful weekend in Louveciennes. The two days were a whirlwind of welcoming smiles, French food, funfair stalls, fireworks and flower-studded floats.

We arrived at lunchtime on Saturday, having caught the Eurostar at 8am at St Pancras. In front of the Mairie we joined a large delegation from Vama, Louveciennes’ twin town in Romania, who were celebrating ten years of ‘jumelage’ with local French officials. After drinks and snacks we were then invited to a nearby house for a splendid array of cheese, dessert and fresh fruit, where I had a friendly meeting with my French counterparts for Radlett twinning.

We were warmly welcomed by our host, who lived on the same road and with whom we were soon at ease, passing swiftly from ‘vous’ to ‘tu’. Emily enjoyed a couple of hours at the funfair, demonstrating equally alarming skills in the dodgems and the rifle shooting. It was not long before it was time to go for a delicious dinner at a restaurant bordering one of the many chateau parks in Louveciennes. After several short, entertaining speeches of welcome by our French hosts and of thanks by our fellow Romanian and German guests, we picked up our forks and tucked in. The evening was rounded off by a spectacular fireworks display.

Oh, the joy of fresh French patisserie for breakfast! A Sunday morning stroll around the nearest chateau and park saw us back in good time for a barbecue lunch at the Mairie. Soon the procession was assembling and we watched as float after float set off, studded with flowers to depict this year’s theme of television serials, including Little House on the Prairie and The Magic Roundabout. They were truly impressive. The final float was of course the most special, with the French Flower Queen and her beautiful English and German princesses, the former being Leila Quinney from Radlett. Separated by colourful marching bands and majorettes, the floats meandered through the streets of Louveciennes all afternoon. As they returned to the Mairie, it was time for us to say our goodbyes and head back to Paris to catch the Eurostar home.

It was a weekend of extraordinary generosity, goodwill and effort by the French organisers. We felt most privileged to be there.

September Events

2010-08-06T09:02:00.000-07:00

We have two events in September. Firstly we shall be sending a representative as Maid of Honour to the annual Féte des Fleurs in Louveciennes. Secondly we shall be sending a party to Lautertal to commemorate the 30th anniversary of our twinning.

Watch out for more details and reports!

Hungarian School Choir at the Radlett Festival

2010-06-15T07:10:00.000-07:00

Twelve members of the Bakay Ervin secondary school choir from Dunaharaszti in Hungary travelled over 1,000 miles to sing at the Radlett Festival this year. They sang at the Saturday night concert and then again the following afternoon during the Village Fair. On the Sunday they also joined with Radlett's own Singing Circle for a spirited rendition of Abba's Super Trouper which went down very well with the crowds!

The choir arrived on Friday morning and spent the day on a sightseeing trip to London. They then travelled to Radlett where they were met by the families with whom they were staying. Over the weekend they were also able to visit St Albans and Shenley Park before returning home on Monday.

Despite a few challenges during their visit, everyone had a great time and we all enjoyed their enthusiasm and friendship. Well done to all involved!

RAIFA and the Radlett Festival 2010

2010-06-04T04:04:00.000-07:00

RAIFA is closely involved with this year's Radlett Festival on this coming weekend, 12th and 13th June.

We will be welcoming a school choir from Dunaharaszti in Hungary who will be performing at both the Saturday evening concert and Picnic in the Park and during the Sunday Village Fair. The choir consists of twelve young people aged between 13 and 17 years old. They will be accompanied by their choir leader, another teacher, the Mayor of Dunaharaszti and one of the librarians from their main library. We are grateful to the Radlett families who have agreed to host the young people during their short stay here.

We look forward to seeing you over the weekend!

Annual General Meeting - Wednesday 17th March 2010

2010-03-05T04:01:00.000-08:00

The 32nd Annual General Meeting of RAIFA will be held at 8 PM on Wednesday 17th March 2010 at St John's Church Hall, Gills Hill Lane, Radlett.

All welcome!

Fete des Fleurs 2009

2009-10-06T01:02:00.000-07:00

This year our representative at the Fete des Fleurs was Petronella Connett. This is her account of the weekend:

I was honoured to be asked by RAIFA (Radlett and Aldenham International Friendship Association) to represent Radlett and Aldenham during the weekend of 18 -20 September at the Fete des Fleurs (Flower Carnival) – a traditional event held in Louveciennes, France every year. For this occasion a princess-to-be is invited from the twin towns of Louveciennes (Radlett, Meersburg, Germany and Vama, Romania) to accompany the French queen of the Fetes during the celebrations. Louveciennes has been twinned with Radlett and Aldenham for 25 years and celebrated its silver anniversary last year. The town is located on the outskirts of Paris, in the neighbourhood of Versailles.
The Fete des Fleurs is a major event attracting a large number of residents out onto the streets. Although the festival is only spread over three days, the preparations begin several months before.
We travelled by car and visited the Somme region of France on our first day. After a long and tiring journey, we arrived in Louveciennes on Friday evening and were warmly welcomed with a champagne reception by our host family, Benoit and Catherine du Jardin. Benoit is the English link in the French twinning association. We only had time for a brief dinner before we were whisked off to the opening event of the fete, which was Bingo. The town hall was crowded with players with their once a year chance to win something. My palms were sweating as one of my duties as a princess was to go up on stage and draw the lucky numbers!
After a good night’s sleep, we had time to go sightseeing in Paris (including the Musee Rodin and Notre Dame) on the Saturday morning before the next event, the evening parade. A multitude of highly decorated floats proceeded slowly through the narrow, historical streets of the town where famous impressionist artists, such as Renoir, Pissarro and Monet found inspiration and painted over 120 paintings depicting Louveciennes. This year’s theme was ‘space’; therefore every single float was intricately mastered to perfection, adorned with flowers, in a space theme, such as E.T or Saint Exupery’s Little Prince. I was sat on the very last float alongside the German princess, accompanying the French queen of the fete.
The highlight of the Carnival took place on Sunday. Thousands of people swarmed down the streets, marching to the rhythm of the brass band and cheered the floats as they passed by. This time I felt like a real princess – at least as far as my outfit was concerned! Our costumes had been specially made to measure and the final adjustments were carried out in a frantic rush just before the main parade. Our dressing room was the Town Hall! All three of us looked like we had just stepped out of an eighteenth century painting. The procession ended up outside the Town Hall where a stage had been erected for the award ceremony, conducted by Mayor André Vanhollebeke. Prizes were given for the best float, the organization of the event, etc. I received a large bouquet of flowers and a beautiful silver bracelet.
I have thoroughly enjoyed my stay in Louveciennes and would highly recommend a visit to this beautiful town!
(Petronella Connett – 12 yrs)

Trip to Vama, Romania – September 2009

2009-09-21T10:18:00.000-07:00

Ann Etkind travelled to Vama in Romania (twinned with Louveciennes) earlier this month on behalf of RAIFA at the invitation of CJL our French partners. Here is her account of the trip:

I have to confess that until last month I knew very little about Romania. Then I accepted an invitation from Louveciennes – Radlett’s French twin town – suggesting that a representative from Radlett would be welcome to join their group on a visit to celebrate the 600^th anniversary of the founding of the town of Vama in Romania. Louveciennes has had a twinning arrangement with Vama in the beautiful countryside of Bucovina in the north of Romania for some years now, and the visit was planned to coincide with the anniversary festival.

Our group of 22 included 17 members from Louveciennes (including the Mayor), and also 4 from Louveciennes’ German twin town of Meersburg. We took part in the official celebrations, were presented with certificates and generally looked after with lavish Romanian hospitality throughout the visit.

The final days of the trip were spent travelling southwards to Bucharest with stops to visit a number of different towns and villages on the way. Romania is a fascinating country, and I have many wonderful memories of my stay in Bucovina.

The Singing Circle and the Fete de la Musique

2009-06-25T04:19:00.000-07:00

Radlett’s Singing Circle increased its radius this weekend when they were invited to perform at the Fete de la Musique in Louveciennes, Radlett’s twinned town in France. 25 singers and their families went to Paris to take part in what was a nationwide festival where buskers and musicians took to street corners, parks and boulevards to perform their music.

And at the invitation of the people of Louveciennes, our local Singing Circle became part of that French experience. Bussed from their hotel in the centre of Paris to the village of Louveciennes early on Saturday evening, the singers were welcomed into the community where they performed their own brand of music, slotted amongst teenage rock bands, gospel singers and dance groups during an evening of entertainment and fun. The Singing Circle performed twice to an enthusiastic audience who were very keen to get involved and sing along to the Circle’s wide range of songs that included everything from rounds and harmonies to African and Maori songs – and even some Abba favourites - a selection of which the Singing Circle had recently performed at the Radlett Festival.

On Sunday, with the rest of Paris still waiting to be entertained, The Singing Circle, still in good voice, wound up the festival weekend by performing a busking selection outside the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

Photos of Louveciennes Visit May 2009

2009-06-05T07:34:00.001-07:00

CJL have posted pictures taken during our visit to Louveciennes last month on this website. You can see them here.

Enjoy! (and thank you CJL)

Louveciennes - 25th Anniversary of Twinning

2009-06-05T06:18:00.000-07:00

Louveciennes Mayor André Vanhollebeke and Chairman of Aldenham Parish Council, Ron Worthy display the gifts they exchanged to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of twinning between the two communities.

Visit to Louveciennes - Press release

2009-06-05T06:15:00.001-07:00

RADLETT AND ALDENHAM INTERNATIONAL FRIENDSHIP ASSOCIATION (RAIFA)

18 May 2009

CELEBRATION OF 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF TWINNING

A group of 25 members of the Radlett and Aldenham International Friendship Association (RAIFA) spent four days in Louveciennes, France last week to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their twinning agreement signed in 1984. The visitors – including six children from Radlett - all stayed with families in Louveciennes, which is near to Versailles and Paris. The party included the Chairman of Aldenham Parish Council, Ron Worthy who presented the Mayor of Louveciennes, André Vanhollebeke with a special scroll to mark the occasion.

The visitors were treated to a busy programme included a guided tour of the Pavillion de Musique, originally built for the Contesse du Barry, mistress of King Louis XV and the gardens of the Palace of Versailles, including the Grand and Petite Trianon and Mary Antoinette's farm. The formal celebrations included a reception in the gardens of the Marie (Town Hall) in Louveciennes and a dinner and a lively cabaret by local performers and singers in the town's theatre.

RAIFA Chairman Clive Glover said that the visit had been a tremendous success and demonstrated the continuing strength of the links between the two communities. He noted that a group of 35 singers from Radlett would be visiting Louveciennes in June to take part in the Féte de Musique (an annual musical event across France on Mid Summer's Day) and that a Radlett girl will once again be one of the “Maids of Honour” for the annual Féte des Fleurs (Festival of Flowers) in September. During the visit he had also had discussions with the Louveciennes Tennis Club about a proposed exchange of young tennis players between the two communities. RAIFA had also been invited to send representatives to Louveciennes' twin town Vama in Romania later this year.

Pictures of Silver Anniversary Celebrations

2008-11-07T03:56:00.000-08:00

Our French partners, CJL have now put some photos on the Web of their recent visit to Radlett & Aldenham to celebrate the Silver Anniversary of twinning.

You can see them here

Radlett celebrates Silver Anniversary for French twinning

2008-10-28T03:48:00.000-07:00

Last weekend (23 to 25 October) Radlett welcomed 28 visitors from its French twin town, Louveciennes, including their Mayor, André Vanhollebeke to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of their twinning partnership. The Chairman of Radlett's German twinning partners in Lautertal also joined the celebrations. During a busy few days the visitors toured Bhaktivedanta Manor and Aldenham Church, attended a reception hosted by Aldenham Parish Council at the Radlett Centre and held a Silver Anniversary Dinner at Porters Park Golf Club. A highlight of the visit was the re-dedication of a lime tree planted on Aldenham Green in 1983 at the time of the original twinning and which is now one of the largest trees on the Green.

Clive Glover, Chairman of RAIFA, said that the visit was a tremendous success, reflecting the continuing support for twinning in the two communities. “Over the 25 years there have been around 80 official exchanges between Aldenham and Louvciennes, as well as many informal exchanges, particularly between families who have become firm friends over the years. It was especially nice that a number of the people involved in the original twinning arrangements 25 years ago took part in this visit, but it was also clear that a new generation of families are now taking over. We are planning more exchanges involving families with school-age children as these have proved very popular.”

Bhakdavidanta Manor, Letchmore Heath

Departure from Radlett

Fete des Fleurs 2008

2008-10-20T03:43:00.000-07:00

Each year we send a teenage girl from Radlett to be a Maid of Honour at the Fete des Fleurs (Flower Festival) in Louveciennes. This year our representative was Berri Sandford who wrote this account of her experiences:

On September 20th I travelled to Louveciennes to take part in the Fête des Fleurs.I was very excited to be representing Radlett as a princess on one of the floats. Once we arrived I was taken off to try on my costume and meet the other princesses.These were a French girl from the village, German and Romanian girls who were also from twinned towns like me. When I first saw the float I was astonished to find that it was all made out of fresh flower heads and was a mermaid design.

The Saturday night was amazing we sat on the float and were paraded around the village followed by the local people who were carrying lanterns. At the end of the parade the whole village descended upon the local sports ground to watch a spectacular firework display.

The next day I was looking forward to doing the day time parade. I was made to feel very special and was taken to the Marie (Town Hall) for lunch first with the other girls. After we were shown to our float again but this time we were given 2 big bin bags of confetti. It was a lovely sunny day and it seemed like the whole town had turned up. The parade was made up of 2 bands and 8 floats plus people dressed up walking. It was traditional for us to throw confetti at the passing crowds but in return we got sprayed with ‘silly string’ and covered in confetti! It was so much fun.

It was upsetting giving my costume back and having to say bye to all the other princesses but I was so glad to have taken part in such a memorable experience.

25th Anniversary of Twinning with Louveciennes

2008-09-12T06:32:00.001-07:00

We will be welcoming a group of visitors from Louveciennes here in Radlett next month (October) to celebrate the Silver Anniversary (that's 25 years!) of our twinning. We are busy planning their programme at present but it will certainly be a memorable occasion.

Fete des Fleurs

2008-09-12T06:27:00.000-07:00

As usual we will be sending a young girl from Radlett to be the Maid of Honour accompanying the Festival Queen at the annual Fete des Fleurs (Festival of Flowers) in Louveciennes over the weekend of 20/21 September. This year we have chosen Beri Sanford, a pupil at St Albans Girls' School and I am sure she will have a great time. We will publish some pictures as soon as we can!

New APEG Website

2008-05-16T07:14:00.000-07:00

We have been informed that APEG, our German partner organisation in Lautertal has created a brand new website

And very good it is too!

Family Exchange between Radlett and Louveciennes

2008-05-16T06:40:00.000-07:00

Over the May Bank Holiday weekend this year, three families from Radlett visited our French Twin Town, Louveciennes to stay with three families there. Our French twinning organiser Miranda Quinney describes how it all went....

It was a great evening in a back garden in Louveciennes – fifteen kids aged from 8 – 17 rushing around the garden whilst their parents enjoyed a delicious buffet accompanied by fine French wines talking about their experiences over the weekend in a mixture of French and English.

We had had a busy couple of days – arriving on the Saturday afternoon- a little later than anticipated due to a bit of swimming on the beach at Calais and then a short stop off in Amiens - to be greeted by families Du Jardin, Weber and Benchimole with kier in the Benchimole’s garden and then a walk through the Parc at Marly le Rois; day to day home to the French kings as opposed to Versailles, the location for Court matters .Perfectly manicured trees led via a fairly steep bank to the small lake – it didn’t take long before the children were on the grass rolling down the hill. Having brushed off the grass, we set off towards dinner at the creperie – perfect Bretonne crepes - savoury to start and sweet to follow accompanied by good strong cider.
We all slept well (was it exhaustion or the cider?) and gathered early the next morning to visit the Sunday market at Versailles. Beautiful fruit and vegetables, an enormous variety of cheeses and meats – it was everything you could expect from a typical French market. The children gobbled strawberries as we admired the antiques shops which surrounded the market square, listened to the jazz and then we wandered northwards to take a look at the Palace of Versailles – just a brief glance from outside – the place was mobbed!

Next it was off for lunch – a café in the park at Versailles – our group of 27 comfortably accommodated. Refreshed and revitalized we hoped to rent bikes and boats but it seemed the whole of Paris had had the same idea – nothing available for an hour or so – improvising instead, the children – and a few adults started up a game of British Bulldog followed by an obstacle race and then we were introduced to a new game “beret” which involved tactical snatching of the “ball”and a race to home without being caught by your opposing team member. As a result we built up quite a crowd of onlookers from the passers by each commenting on the technical prowess – or otherwise - of the participants. At one point “Salade” was ordered by the referee of the game and all fifteen children seemed to head into a scrum – given the participation on the trip of no less than two of our local junior rugby coaches – I suspect that Beret may soon find its way to common use at Tabard rugby club if not in the playground!

There was just about time to take a short walking tour around Louveciennes home to the likes of Bridget Bardot, Renoir and Pissaro – a green oasis just 20 minutes from central Paris, no wonder the rich and famous liked it so much. We were treated to a private tour of the Pavillion de Music built for Madame du Barry – usually only open for conferences and weddings. We were lucky enough that one of the committee members for RAIFA’s equivalent in Louveciennes was the Pavillion’s manager and caretaker. The Pavillion itself was ornate with magnificent grounds leading from a significant height down to the River Seine – we were even able to spot the Eiffel Tower! Then it was back to the Du Jardin’s for our final meal together.

Monday morning and families Withyman, Tomlins and Quinney set off for the Eurotunnel via Le Touquet and Cite Europe. It had been an excellent weekend . We’re already thinking about next year’s gathering which will be in Radlett – if you would like to participate, or know of someone who might like to get involved and host a French family please contact Miranda Quinney – it’s going to be a lot of fun.

Visit by Mayor of Dunaharaszti, Hungary

2008-05-16T06:35:00.000-07:00

The Hungarian flag flew for the first time at the Radlett Centre last weekend (18 – 20 April) to welcome Dr Laslo Szalay, the Mayor of Dunaharaszti in Hungary and two colleagues who were visiting Radlett and Aldenham at the invitation of the Twin Town Association, RAIFA. Their visit to the Parish of Aldenham is part of continuing twinning discussions between the two communities following a visit to Dunaharaszti by RAIFA members last Summer.

During their busy programme the visitors, Dr Szalay, Marianna Bucsko and Zoltan Petho visited Shenley Park and toured the Parish of Aldenham, taking in Bhaktivedanta Manor in Letchmore Heath, Newberries Primary School and Aldenham Country Park. They met representatives of local societies at a reception hosted by Aldenham Parish Council and also met with Councillor Martin Saunders, Mayor of Hertsmere. Finally, they also visited Borehamwood market, St Albans Abbey and Verulamium Museum.

Dunaharaszti is a town with Roman connections located by the River Danube, near to the Hungarian capital, Budapest. Although it is larger than Radlett, it has much in common with it's prospective partner including thriving choral, drama, music and art societies with whom links are being planned. RAIFA Chairman Clive Glover said “It has been a very enjoyable weekend for us and our visitors and I am confident that we will be able to establish a number of links between individuals and societies here in Radlett and Aldenham and their counterparts in Dunaharaszti over the coming months”.