Harrow in Europe arranges educational visits to Europe for school students and teaching staff. Many schools pay visits to the continent and we do our best to assist them wherever possible.

As with our other activities, this assistance this takes many forms, including finding contacts in other countries to help with organisation, travel and accommodation and, where necessary, giving financial grants.

Last year Harrow in Europe organised a visit by pupils from two of our high schools Harrow High and Nower Hill High. They gave presentations about Harrow in French to the College Sainte Clotilde in Douai. Pupils from the French school in return gave illustrated talks about Douai in English.

Students from a school in Recklingshausen, Germany, gave talks in French. They also spoke excellent English.

This event has led to further links between the French and German schools and the Harrow and Stanmore colleges including correspondence between individual students.

After much planning and deliberation over a couple of pints in Pinner the 30th Anniversary celebrations took shape. The weekend was the highlight of, not only 2009 , but of the last five years .The last major celebration was in 2004 for the 25th Anniversary.

Once we knew that dates that M.Jacque Vernier (Mayor of Douai ) and his fellow councillors and colleagues were able to spend a weekend in Harrow we had some serious planning to do and an attempt to keep costs down.

So what did we plan for the weekend ? Our first objective was to invite as many people as possible to both the formal and informal events.

The weekend started off with meeting the French delegation at St.Pancras Staion by the Mayor’s chauffeur, John Hinkley and Councillor Jean Lammiman and the French were taken to the Grimsdyke Hotel where the rooms were booked. After settling in our guests went to the Civic Centre for a small lunchtime reception hosted by the Mayor and Mayoress of Harrow, Councillors John and Joyce Nickolay. The Red Brick Cafe provided an excellent buffet lunch which reflected the diversity of Harrow.

The reception was followed by both Mayors being escorted in to the Council Chamber with a guard of honour by the 1454 (Harrow) Squadron ATC. The formal proceedings then began . Both Mayors spoke of the benefits of twinning and of the range of activities and exchanges that take place throughout the year. Gifts were exchanged and the new town twinning agreement was signed by both Mayors. The agreement was in French and English, both of which had been hand written by a professional calligraphist .Both will be on display in the Council Chamber.

We were also privileged to have a presentation by two of Harrow's Youth Parliament members .They gave a very good presentation of the issues that affect youth and their vision for the future.

The following morning a group, including the Mayor and Mayoress of Harrow joined the French delegation for breakfast. Following breakfast, John Hinkley and Councillor Jean Lammiman discussed future events for twinning activities with M.Jacques Mercier , who has responsibility for cultural activities in Douai.

While the delicate negotiations were going on some of us had more practical issues to deal with. We had an amazing response to the Afternoon Tea Party at Headstone Manor. Tables to be set out, cakes to be cut up. Morris Men had to dress in their traditional clothes and numerous pots of tea to be made!

The afternoon was a great success The Mayors and our French guests were greeted by the Merrydowners Morris Men .They were given a guided tour of the Tithe Barn and the Manor House, complete with stories of ghosts.

The Merrydowners Morris Men entertained at various times throughout the afternoon and Harrow Young Muscians played superbly while our guests were eating and drinking. Finally, everyone drifted home having had a very enjoyable afternoon .

Sue Blann

Friday 8^th May 2009 saw the arrival of our French competitors from Douai for the annual Harrow Triathlon. The host families arrived at Morrison’s car park to meet the group of 13 French friends with their families. Unfortunately the ferry was delayed by wind so the group arrived 45 minutes late.

Once settled with the host families the group and their Harrow hosts meet for dinner at the United Services Club in Pinner. Place of honour went to Jean Nido the President of Douai Triathalon Club who has gained a place in this year's Triathlon World Championships. This year there were four children with the group, one of whom was competing in the Children's event.

Saturday was free for our French guests to visit London for sightseeing and shopping. In the evening we all met for dinner at the Blann residence in Wealdstone where all feasted on an Italian meal but with northern French cheeses .One of the cheeses was unknown to our guests.

Sunday all were up bright and early for the main purpose of the weekend — THE TRIATHLON. The weather was bright, sunny and warm for the early morning. All the competitors were signed in and ready to go on time.

At the end of the swimming, cycling and running two of our French competitors received medals for coming first in their age group as did the youngest entrant.

After the exhaustion of the weekend the group left Harrow to wend their way back to Douai — tired but happy at the hospitality that they received in Harrow.

2009 will be the 25th anniversary of the Douai Walking Association, Douai Marche. The celebrations willl be from June 14th to 21st and we are invited to help them commemorate their anniversary by taking part in 14 to 21 kilometres walks in and around Douai during the week.There will be more information nearer the date.

Since May 2000, when Julian Maw and his team staged the first Harrow & Hatch End Triathlon, the Triathlon Club of Douai, led by Jean Nido, have sent over a team to compete in our annual triathlon. In their distinctive black club kit, Douai have always performed to a high standard, and have won several medals over the years. Despite several invitations Harrow have not managed to send over a team to compete in the Douai duathlon (see www.triathlondouai.com) until this year when my family and I went over to “fly the flag” and compete for Harrow on 27th April 2008, followed two weeks later by the Douai return visit to our triathlon. My daughter Amy and I competed in France, supported by my wife Corinne and younger daughter Lucy. We arrived late on the Friday evening at our hotel on the north east outskirts of Douai, six hours after leaving home. What to do with our precious bikes? After some negotiation with the hotel management - nothing for it - but to store them in the bedrooms!

The next day we woke up to glorious weather and breakfast on the terrace. A stroll into town gently introduced us to the delights of Douai starting with the open air market in Pl Saint Ame. We were soon in holiday mode. After coffee in the main square (Place d’Armes) and my inevitable visit to the tourist information, I left the family to continue shopping whilst I went to visit the Duathlon site on the north side of the town. There I met Jean and his team, hard at work setting up the event for the following day. Despite the pressure they were under, they made me feel most welcome, and Jean took time out to describe how the event would look the following day. The event HQ is at the huge and very modern Gayant Expo exhibition hall. This is beside a large green area with a lake – ideal for this type of event. After a relaxed lunch with the team I left them to it and returned to join my family in town.

A late afternoon highlight was our visit to the town hall where we climbed the belfry which was built high enough by the local merchants to make sure they overlooked both the local Lord’s tower and the local church towers. Two town hall highlights were a very loud musical Algerian wedding, and the opportunity to hear and then play the 62 Carillion bells. No delicate fingering here – rather a strong downward clenched fist on the various levers. A young boy of no more than 12 years gave us a fine demonstration of the technique.

That evening we were invited to the grandly named Douai Olympic Rugby club, where all the organisers and their families were having a pre-event celebration. This gave us a chance to catch up with Alan and Sue Blann, two Harrow residents who also have a home near the Belgium border. Each year they not only marshal at the Douai event, but two weeks later are back in Harrow to help marshal at our triathlon. This is truly above and beyond the call of duty! There was a great atmosphere with music, drink, dance and a couple of birthday presentations. We also met Mathilde, aged 12 years, who was going to be visiting Hatch End to compete in our triathlon for the first time.

The next morning Amy and I were standing nervously on the start line with 100 very professional looking competitors. We had a 5km run (twice around the lake) followed by a 26km bike ride followed by a 2 ½km run. The organisers had been very considerate in explaining in English the route and the slightly different French rules. We were now keen not to let the side down by finishing last! We also noticed how few women were competing – back in England the participation is much more evenly balanced.

After a good run on a most scenic route, we set off on our bikes into the French countryside. Several of the marshals on the route recognised us and shouted encouragement to “les anglaise.” We passed through several villages where the traffic was stopped by the marshals and police without protest. Eventually we returned for the final run. We finished in the bottom half of the field, but by no means last and Amy (01:34:34) beat me for the first time by 21 seconds. A great experience all round. Our sprint event was followed by another longer event – which was a 10km run followed by an 80km bike ride and a 10km run. Even the winner was taking three hours for this! After the prize giving we headed for home after a hugely enjoyable weekend.

Two weekends later Jean Nido led his team of Benedict Maret, David and Mathilde Willebien, David Casemode and Jacques Tillerot to take part in our triathlon on Sunday 18 May (see www.jetstreamtri.com ). This involved a 400m swim followed by a 17km bike ride and a 3km run. The French were hosted as always by Harrow in Europe. This time the roles were reversed as Jean and his team were able to concentrate on competing and the Jetstream team had to concentrate on hosting our event. It was great to see them again so soon after their event. Jean Nido finished fourth overall – in 00:52:43 and second in his age group. Amy also beat me again!

Hopefully we can repeat our visit to Douai next year with a larger team from Harrow. My thanks to Harrow in Europe for making our visit possible.

On Wednesday 12^th March, 24 Students from Ecole Paule Parent School came and visited Marlborough school. They arrived at 11.00am, all ready for an action packed afternoon.

Our children greeted them, using the limited French that they know, and we split the children up between the 2 Yr 6 classes. The activity for the day was to use pictures of famous french and English landmarks and to create a collage to match their land mark eg we had Wembley Stadium, The Eiffel Tower etc. The children worked in groups of 4-5, with one student being from Ecole Paule Parent School.

We ate lunch together in our classrooms, visited the bookfair (unfortunately there were no french books for the children to read and played a game of cricket outside in the afternoon, we didn't let the droplets of snow to stop us!

Overall, the day was a great success, the children being very polite and helpful towards to each other.

Sharla B.

Kenmore Park Middle school greatly enjoyed their experience of meeting students and teachers from Ecole Primaire Paule Parente on Wednesday 12th March. The visitors were welcomed to the school in french by Beth Schluter , French Co-ordinator, the Headteacher Mike Baumring , and also by three of our pupils from Year 6 and Year 7. Thivakar gave a general history of our school and talked about our area, while Shawmiya talked about the school curriculum and our classrooms, special events we hold and about our interactive whiteboards, which we later had fun playing Maths games and French games on with some Year 7 pupils. Synthia talked about our Fruit shop and our French shop and visits we take the pupils on throughout the Year groups.

Some of our Year 6 and 7 pupils had lunch and refreshments with the french students and then some more Year 7 pupils spent an hour chatting with the visitors in groups, with questions they had prepared earlier. They sang Frere Jaques in both French and English to our visitors. Then we had fun on the interactive whiteboards, trying out French and Maths games , which were met with great enthusiasm! Some of our Year 5 pupils demonstrated their knowledge of African drumming to the visitors and 4 girls sang an African Call & response to the visitors.

The french students were entertained by our Year 5, 6 and 7 pupils in the playground at playtime and afterwards some Year 6 pupils came to have a few Benchball matches in the Hall with the visitors. VERY energetic ! Great fun was had by all! The french children won, 2 matches to 1.

I have never seen so many beaming faces as that afternoon. Many thanks came my way from both french pupils and Kenmore pupils for having had the opportunity to have so much fun, whilst learning to communicate in a foreign language at the same time. Indeed, our pupils were all eager to have the pupils visit again soon.

Beth Schluter

In December 2007 our second Christmas Brunch was held at the Civic Centre. Presentations were given on various activities to a crowded audience.

The schools taking part were Nower Hill High School, Shaftesbury High School, West Lodge Middle School, Welldon Park Middle School and Roxeth First and Middle School.

Zainab Hakim from Heathfield School spoke of her experiences in taking part in the Vimy Ridge Association essay competition. This is organised annually by the Canadians in memory of the capture of Vimy Ridge from the Germans in 1917. A feat which enabled Canada to become a country in its own right.

Also taking part were Cllr. David Gawn on his sponsored parachute jump, an account of the Power Chair football match by Nicky Baker, against a Douai team where we were decidedly beaten, but want to try again, the Pinner and District Walking Group, and the Merrydowners Morris, who now make an annual visit to France

The three best, judged by the audience were, first, Shaftesbury High School for their account of their trip to Douai. Second was Nower Hill High School with an account of their trip to the First World War trenches, complete with a model they had made. Third was Zainab with her entry to the Vimy Competition.

The morning ended with refreshments on a French theme, cheese, pate and wine specially brought from France with French bread.

It was a very enjoyable event and we hope to make it an annual one.

Harrow in Europe Committee member Cllr David Gawn made a sponsored Sky dive for the Mayor of Harrow’s Charity Challenge on behalf of Teenage Cancer Trust.

This is the only charity specifically dedicated to building and equipping Units for young people suffering from cancer, Hodgkin’s disease, leukaemia and related problems. TCT is also pioneering an education model with Harrow to raise awareness among young people.

The Mayor of Harrow Cllr Jean lammiman is also the President of Harrow in Europe.

In August, for the second year running , Merrydowners Morris were invited to participate in” An English Tea Party “in the village of Viry , Saone et Loire, France , by resident expats of Britain, Holland , Switzerland, Denmark and local French residents. The purpose of the event is to raise funds for the restoration of their local church completed this year, and rededicated by the Bishop of Cluny early in September.

Clr Jean Lammiman Mayor and John Hinkley Consort were welcome guests this year and joined the Merrydowners at a Fetes des Art in La Clayette, an Internatinal Fetes Folklorique in Charroles and the English Tea Party in Viry. The Mayors of all three towns welcomed the mayor of Harrow and gifts were exchanged. We all thoroughly enjoyed the experience of hospitality and cultural exchange over the very busy weekend of the 3rd to 6th August .

Tony Adamson
Merrydowners Morris

A disappointing result in a power chair football match hasn't stopped 17 disabled football players from Harrow wanting to return to Douai later this year for a second shot at victory.

On Friday 15^th June 2007 they left Bentley Day Centre in Harrow Weald with their carers to travel to France for the match in three minibuses adapted for wheelchair use.

The Decathlon sports centre was the venue for the match, one of a number of sporting activities taking place.

The 16 to 24 year olds enjoyed lunch at the Decathlon Sports Complex in Douai and were entertained with dinner in the evening by Mme Chantal Brisabois, responsible for twinning in the town.

Power chaired football involves the players having a kind of basket attachment on their wheelchair which is used to hit the ball (see picture). It is a very fast game and the French, with faster wheelchairs, won by 15 goals to 0.

The Harrow team have a lot of practising to do but enjoyed the game and hope to welcome their opponents in Harrow soon, possibly at the new Community Centre at Rayners Lane.

A similar event will be held in Douai at the end of November and the Harrow team would like to take part.

"Sacre bleu, il fait froid". Yes, you guessed, we are at Three Valleys Water Clay Lane Treatment Works on a cold and blustery morning with a group of French Water Engineers from Douai. Winter seems to have returned, after the poor hedgehogs have been seriously confused by the previous week’s warmth. Madame Deputy Mayor Jean Lammiman was there to keep a close eye on proceedings. Michael Jackman and his team had kindly agreed to take us around the works. He fired statistics at us thick and fast.

The French students were really keen to do a sight-seeing trip on the way home so Monsieur Hinkley (aka John) did a fabulous job doing a turn as a tour guide in French, and navigating us home at the same time. A good day out, with a glimpse of the Wembley Arch set against the cloudy sky as we wended our way home.

From the 19^th to 24^th October 2006, during half term, 28 students visited Berlin accompanied by their teachers Miss Pearson, Miss Halligan, Mr Kunakey and Mr Bremner. After a long, long coach journey the students enjoyed a visit to the centre of this bustling European city.

The second day centred around a visit to the Sachsenhausen Concentration camp. It is a sombre place but important for students to reflect upon the lessons of history.

The next day included a visit to the Check Point Charlie Museum. This records the amazing methods employed to cross the Berlin Wall and again describes stories of heroism and sadness. The afternoon was spent on a boat trip down the River Spey, followed by walks around the famous Reichstag Building and the new Jewish Memorial.

The last day featured a visit to the Olympic Stadium, famous for the 1936 Olympics and more recently the Zidane World cup final. It is an amazing building and was especially popular with Mr Bremner.

Thanks go to the staff for supporting the trip and especially Miss Pearson for shouldering so much of the planning and to Miss Halligan for her 'nursing' of the children during the trip. Thanks also to Harrow in Europe who were kind enough to sponsor us.