35 Years Twinned with Radlett (Parish of Aldenham) in England


Auf die Flagge klicken,
um die deutsche Fassung zu zeigen

Return visit to England from 14th to 17th October 2016

Unfortunately this celebration was also a farewell to this part of the country.  The Parish of Aldenham cancelled the twinning with Lautertal to the end of 2016 as a consequence of lack of interest in the twinning committee, RAIFA, which has practically folded up, and generally in twinning.

The agenda accounted for no official participation of any council members.

Most of the German guests arrived by plane and were picked up at Heathrow. The evening was leisurly spent at a local pub.

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16th October:
Unfortunately it rained during the night but stopped in time for our visit to the Radlett allotments. The walk through the allotments was most interesting and showed the German guests how well things grow on the island.

Afterwards we made our way to Battler's Green Farm, as type of shopping centre on a farm with very interesting and picturesque shops.

 

The beautifully sunny afternoon was spent visiting the old and pretty village of Aldenham with its village green where the APEG tree is flourishing. There a guided tour of the old church of St John the Baptist had been arranged with the local vicar.

We were allowed up the bell tower and had a break in the bell ringers' room where we were introduced the art of change ringing.

At the top we had a fantastic view over to Watford (building cranes) and the M25 and also south towards London. Hard to believe how close we are to that huge city with all that green.

Back down again we were invited to tea and cakes.

The evening was spent at the Aldenham Golf Club where we dined and wined and given the opportunity of enjoying steak and mushroom pie.

As a gift from the German guests Uwe Füchtenkordt presented Clive Glover with several bottles of local quality Riesling wine:

Then we were entertained by a couple of students from a local music school:

Of course speeches had to be held on such an occasion. Paul Marley, the honorary chairman of RAIFA and one of the driving forces in the twinning between the Parish of Aldenham and Lautertal, made an especially emotional farewell speech. Also Benoît Dujardin from Louveciennes (a small town just outside Paris that is/was twinned with Radlett) made a very memoriable and relevant speech on the importance of twinning within Europe (click to see copy). Then we heard a very dynamic speech in Englisch, French and German from John Walton who is an artist and spent time in Paris/Louveciennes giving art classes.

Finally we had the chance of taking one last official group photo with RAIFA and representatives of the two (still) twinned towns:

:
(from left) Ian MacDonald, M. & Mme. Dujardin, RAIFA chairman Clive Glover, Beata Green, Uwe Füchtenkordt,
APEG chairwoman Christiane Stock and RAIFA honorable chairman Paul Marley

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16th October:
Today was spent with the hosts. In Shenley Park there was an apple fair with a large choice of apples, tea, cakes and entertainment for the kiddies.


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17th October:
The day of the final return to Germany for most. The majority of this group was about to embark on a sightseeing trip to London with Clive as their guide. The train from Radlett will take them to Blackfriars, into the heart of the city.

Bye, bye Radlett. Bye, bye Parish of Aldenham!

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Article, photos and layout: Johnny Glover