Fete des Fleurs 2011

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.

September Events

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!

Fete des Fleurs 2008

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.

Fete des Fleurs

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!