The Borough of Harrow is twinned with Douai and the Harrow in Europe group makes an annual trip to the town. This is an account of the trip in July 2009. It was a particularly important event as this year was the thirtieth anniversary of the twinning.

We got away virtually on time and our excellent coach driver sped us down to the Channel Tunnel in good time for our crossing then on to Douai. Jenny, who'd organised our visit, had done a splendid job. As we travelled, she passed around a large bag of sweets for us to dip into and handed out a clear, well-produced and detailed agenda for our stay, as well as a street-map of the town. Many on the coach had been on previous visits, but it was the first time for my wife, Patricia, and I so this material was particularly useful. Our hotel was a former town mansion, situated in an excellent location on the Place Saint Ame, adjacent to the Foundary of the Cannoniers. This was, in fact, the place where Douai had been started. Douai was probably Roman Duacum, a fortress built in the 4thC, though the remnants of the circular wall surrounding what is now the Jardin des Cannoniers is later.

On our first evening, we were bussed to the historic Salles d'Anchin for a ceremony to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the twinning. Among the guests were a delegation from one of Douai's other twinned towns, two men from Bakino Faso, to whom the Mayor of Douai extended a special greeting. Both the Mayors of Harrow and of Douai made speeches in both English and French, each reminding us of the depth and breadth of the ties between the two places. These extended to schools, sports, and cultural activities. The Mayor of Douai noted in particular the very favourable impression made on Douai school-children by the excellent race-relations in the borough on an exchange visit to Harrow. It is in such experiences that the true value of twinning can be perceived. A generous table of wine and delicious cakes ensured that we all mixed after the ceremony.

The following day, while some had a lie-in, we explored Douai, following two historical routes on the map supplied by Jenny. It's an interesting town with much to see. However, we couldn't linger as Jenny had arranged with our coach-driver to drive us to Tournai, just across the border in Belgium. We boarded our coach at 11am and, untroubled by passport formalities, we slipped across the border - as it began to rain. We had about four hours in the town. Some took the opportunity to relax at a café or restaurant in the Grand Place, with views of the magnificent Beffroi and Cathedral, (both of them UNESCO World Heritage Sites), while others braved the elements and visited one or some of the many interesting sites within the town.

One group of us, interested in the history of Tournai, went on an extended walk. Like Douai, Tournai was a Roman foundation, built as Turnacus, on the road from Gaul (roughly modern-day France) to Colonia Agrippina, modern-day Cologne, the Romans' chief town on the Rhine border of their Empire. Tournai is thus one of the oldest cities in Belgium. Later, in the 5thC, the Franks of the Merovingian dynasty made it their capital and their most well-known king, Clovis, was born there. In the Middle Ages, Tournai was an important centre of tapestry weaving and its fortunes rose and ebbed with the state of relations with England, its chief source of wool. Such historical links with England are strong. Perkin Warbeck, the false pretender to the throne of England, was born here in the 5th C.

Our walk took us downstream along the River Scheldt to the Pont des Trous. This bridge was part of the 13th C town walls of Tournai and is a fine example of Medieval architecture. It has two towers and gates that could be lowered through slots, still visible, to block the river-arches. It saw fierce fighting at the siege of 1340, at the start of the Hundred Years War.

Tournai has the unique distinction of being the only town in modern-day Belgium to have once have been English. Henry VIII claimed to be king of France and in June 1513, landed at Calais with a strong force. Allied with Maximillian of Austria, he laid siege to Tournai and the town surrendered after three days. Maximillian's grandson, who believe it or not was Thomas Wolsey, was pleased at this annexation as he wanted the £80,000 annual income due to the Bishop, a post he was granted. As relations soured between the townsfolk and Henry's troops, he garrisoned them in the north east section of the town and had a huge tower built as a citadel and a further wall running down to the Scheldt. That tower is still there, 27m high with walls almost 7m thick, not far from the railway station (but covered with scaffolding on the day of our visit). In 1518, Francis I of France succeeded in including Tournai in his possessions: Wolsey was willing to leave his see for a fee of 12,000 gold crowns. The Spanish also long dominated Tournai but in 1667 the town evenually passed to Louis XIV of France who made it capital of Flanders.

Sadly, in the 19th C, the old town walls, with their sixty towers and eighteen gates, were pulled down to permit expansion of the town. What remains is Henry's Tower, the Pont des Trous and, in the south of the town, a short section of wall and the Marvis Tower. But there is another architectural treasure in Tournai which we looked at after Henry's Tower. On the rue Barre Saint-Brice are two Romanesque houses, rare survivals of 12th C secular architecture, which are among the oldest burgher houses in Western Europe.

Tournai's former dependency on the cloth trade is exemplified by the Cloth Hall (1610-12) on the market square and the Tapestry Museum. The latter is one of many museums in the town: others cover such diverse subjects as archaeology, military history, folklore, natural history and the decorative arts. But our small group (and others) made their way to the Museum of Fine Art. This building was an early design by Victor Horta, the founder of Art Nouveau architecture, many of whose works can be seen in Brussels, including his own house, now a museum devoted to him. The plan of his Tournai building has been likened to a tortoise or a flying squirrel! It has a large oval central space, used for the display of sculpture, with four "legs", rooms where paintings are displayed. There we saw paintings by Breughel, Rubens, Jordaens, Watteau, Van Gogh, two lovely works by Manet, and paintings by Roger van der Weyden. The last is a son of Tournai and is interred in the cathedral to which we next made our way.

It is the design of Notre Dame Cathedral that gives Tournai its nickname of the Cite des Cinq Clochers (the Town of the Five Towers). Built during the 12th and 13th C, at a period of transition in Western architecture, the nave and transept are Romanesque (12th C) while the Gothic choir was added a century later. It contains works by Rubens and Jordaens which we saw, but unfortunately the building is undergoing restoration so much of its glory was covered by scaffolding. Not so the nearby Beffroi. My wife and I scaled the 257 steps to the viewing area, a little below the 72m high top of this magnificent structure, the oldest beffroi in Belgium. It was erected after Philippe Auguste, King of France, gave Tournai its charter in 1188. Such charters gave towns the "Right of Bell" ie to hang a bell to summon townsfolk in times of danger, and thus, implicitly, showed the trust of the sovereign in the town's loyalty. The bells also regulated activities in the town. The chief bell, the "Bonalogue" still hangs in the beffroi. From the beffroi there are magnificent views over the town. There are twenty four such beffrois in Flanders, forming a transnational UNESCO World Heritage Site, each built for the same reasons, and including that at Douai, where the bell was last sounded for its principal purpose during the Second World War.

And it was to Douai we now returned. There were a series of events in the town that evening including a street banquet and entertainment in the Place Carnot, where bands and giants entertained the spectators, a concert in the Foundry Gardens, given by the highly accomplished Douai Town Band, and later in the evening at the Place Carnot, a nocturnal spectacular featuring "Herbert & l'Aeroplume". This last was extraordinary. A vast white balloon, filled with helium and with a rope attached at each end, was pulled into the Place. Attached horizontally to the bottom of the balloon, and equipped with wings, was a silver-clad young woman who gently flapped her wings, while the tableau was completed by ghostly, white garbed figures on stilts. Wonderful!

been apprehensive that the rain might spoil the main event, the Fetes de Gayant, on the following day. A glance at the forecast before we set out from England showed a 95% chance of rain. But the gods smiled on Douai. We awoke to bright sunshine and clear skies which remained with us throughout the day. We strolled over to the courtyard of the Hotel de Ville at 10am for the Arrival of the Family Gayant and to listen to the carillon. Our Mayor and his wife had their photos taken in front of the Giant and his wife respectively and then the Giant, his wife, their children, the Wheel of Fortune and the Sot des Cannoniers (a Fool figure, similar to the 'Obby 'Oss at Padstow's celebrations) danced around the courtyard to the music of the Town Band.

This was no small feat as the Giant, unique in Flanders (where a number of towns have their giants), is not on wheels (as elsewhere) but carried by six sturdy men, dressed in white and with a broad black band tied tightly around their waists. The other members of the giant’s family have their bearers and in all cases the bearers are hidden beneath the lower clothes of the figures, one peeping out through a small aperture to guide direction. It seemed there was merit to be gained in being able to spin fast and, as we watched, the figures gyrated faster and faster. At some stage, doves were released from the beffroi but we missed that. However, we didn't miss the next stage in proceedings when the Mayor of Douai and his assistants opened large boxes of hard sweets and proceeded to throw handfuls into the crowd! Children (and adults) scuttled around filling their bags and pockets, crying out with delight at this largesse.

We then entered one of the historic halls where the Mayor gave a welcome address (entirely in French) in which he repeated the sentiments of his address on the previous evening, welcomed representatives from other towns twinned with Douai, paid a formal and appreciative welcome to a composer, long resident in the town and joined us in listening to some pieces played by the Town Band. One piece played was the theme-music from the Second World War Steve McQueen film "The Great Escape", which English soccer fans use to taunt their German opposite numbers at international matches. No doubt played in all innocence, I did wonder what the Mayor of the German town twinned with Douai thought of it! After the ceremony, we adjourned to the adjacent, splendid Gothic Hall for more wine and cakes.

Time was then free until the Parade. We visited an interesting photographic exhibition in the basement of the Hotel de Ville then strolled, with another member of the Harrow group, around part of the historical route we'd walked on the previous day. As there was still time in hand, we also climbed the beffroi on a guided tour and our guide gave us a demonstration of the carillon, explaining that its use as a musical instrument had originated in Douai.

It was then time to find a seat to watch the parade. We elected to sit at a café table near the start of the parade and enjoyed a Belgian beer, Grimbergen, in the bright sun under blue skies. Suddenly, the air seemed to be ripped apart: three Dassault Mirage jets of the French Air Force screamed low overhead and were gone in a flash. This seemed to indicate the start of the parade. Every year, the parade has a different theme. This year, in recognition of the 100th anniversary of the world's first air show, over Douai in 1909, and Bleriot's cross-channel flight that same year, the theme was "L'Air des Geants". It was marvellous.

Floats and performers came by, interspersed with bands of musicians (including Breton bagpipers), each very imaginatively created. Some were dressed as clouds, others as early aviators, some celebrated pioneers of air-mail, others were dancing on stilts. And a gigantic machine showered us with confetti! Not least among the entrants were the young men from Nower Hill High School and the model of a WWI British fighter they had constructed with their teachers - and now had to pedal it along in the hot sunshine: I took another sip of my beer as I admired their fortitude. I say "young men" rather than "boys" as throughout our trip I was impressed by the way they conducted themselves: always in good humour and courteous despite being surrounded by the rest of us who must have seemed ancient to them. They are a credit to their parents, their school, the Borough and to themselves.

In the evening, we were once more bussed over to the Salle d'Anchin where, after a short address, we enjoyed a buffet meal, replete with wine, while we chatted with other guests. We sadly left Douai the following morning and, after a long stop at Cite Europ for lunch and shopping, made our way uneventfully back to Harrow.

It had been an excellent weekend, full of interest and pleasure. What impressed us most was the inclusive nature of the group (I chatted for the first time to a Zoroastrian at the buffet dinner, as well as to charming ladies from Switzerland, Italy and Ireland), the range of ages (though mainly of my vintage), the way everyone joined in to welcome and help those less able than themselves (even humping into the coach two powered wheelchairs that weighed a ton, it seemed!), and not least the excellent organisation of the whole weekend by Jenny who fulfilled what is often a thankless role with humour and, on timekeeping, the necessary firmness!