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.

Féte des Fleurs, 18/19 September 2010

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

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 2009

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

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

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.

Pictures of Silver Anniversary Celebrations

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

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.

25th Anniversary of Twinning with Louveciennes

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

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!