Trisha Cornforth,was German news reporter for "Der Kanadier" newspaper as well as for CFN/RFC radio and television, from the end of 1978 to the end of May 1994 The original "Der Kanadier " was the weekly newspaper for the Canadian Forces stationed in Europe. It was published in Lahr in the Black Forest, Germany, from 1 July 1970 until 25 May 1994, i.e. until just before Canadian Forces Base Lahr closed down in mid-August 1994. Trisha has stayed in Lahr as a self-employed English teacher (VHS adult education classes and local companies) and as a translator (e.g. for Burda sewing and needlework magazines). She is president of the Lahr German-Canadian Friendship Club, the Lahr Canada-Haus Association (founded in 1994) and the "Schwarzwald Tänzer" square dance club (founded in 1967).

Events in Lahr German-Canadian Reunion during "Chrysanthema" 19-28 October!

A 40th anniversary (1967-2007) Lahr German-Canadian Reunion will take place during Lahr's now famous Chrysanthemum Festival. This open-air flower festival takes place every fall (this year from 19 Ocober to 11 November 2007). "International friendship"
is the theme of this year's Chrysanthemum Festival when the old city centre will look
its best, lasting for three weeks with activites, live concerts, etc. every day.

Fabulous flower festival
This chrysanthemum festival has been held every end of October since 1993, with Lahr's streets and buildings decorated with masses of these colourful blossoms - at a time when other flowers are withering away elsewhere! Another advantage of the fall is that trans-Atlantic airline tickets cost less - remember you can fly via London (Standstead) then Ryanair to land at Baden-Soellingen! Autumn is also a pleasant season with the grape harvest, wine and beer festivals as well as Europa-Park's Halloween festival - see our photos from last year by clicking on "Chrysanthema 2006" in our pictures section!

40 years of Canadians in Lahr
Fall 2007 will mark 40 years since the establishment of CFB Lahr. The first Canadians actually arrived in Lahr in spring 1967 but the official hand-over ceremony from the French Air Force took place in October 1967 when CFB Lahr was officially opened.

Reunion events
The main official ceremonies hosted by the City of Lahr with reception will be held during the opening weekend of 19-22 October when other Canadian guests will also be visiting from Lahr's "twin town" Belleville, Ontario, as well as French guests from Lahr's "twin town" of Dole in Burgundy - both of which are also celebrating anniversaries this year! Canadian residents in the Belleville area may wish to join that organized trip (contact Belleville city hall).

Sunday 28 October will be "Canadian Day" in the "Chrysanthema" program with local and visiting Canadians providing music among the flowers on Lahr's Marktplatz.

For the week in between we are working on a schedule of events/day trips for visitors to Lahr (i.e. a meet and greet, a guided tour of the old city with coffee; Stadtpark tour to finish at the restaurant, wine-tasting tour up the Schutterlindenberg; Geroldseck castle tour with lunch or coffee at the oldest Gasthaus; Black Forest Farm Museum in Gutach with cuckoo clocks in Triberg; a brewery tour with beer tasting. There are no Volksmarsch walks in the near vicinity but I can supply a list of walks in the Black Forest and Alsace.

There's no need to pre-book anything but please let us know what you are interested in and if you have any other special suggestions. Are you interested in a souvenir T-shirt?

Travel and accommodations
There may be some organized tours from Canada so ask around or contact Belleville! Otherwise you will have to arrange your own travel and find your own accommodations. Some home hospitality may be available in Lahr - please ask if you are interested!
The best is if you can stay with friends, former landlords or neighbours because there will already be many tourists in the town! See also Lahr's website (Tourismus, Chrysanthema) under www.Lahr.de on the internet. - or write to the e-mail address shown below.

Register with "Der Kanadier" - sorry about guest book spam!
If you are going to attend the reunion, please put a message on our "Der Kanadier" guest book - so that other people can see you're intending to come to Lahr. We've recently had spam problems on our guest book but we'll soon be changing to a server with better spam protection so we hope you will not be disturbed in future.

If you are coming on an individual trip to Lahr at any time of the year, also please let us know in advance so that we can get together at Canada-Haus, which is located in the former "Der Kanadier" newspaper office above the former downtown post office,
near the Stadtpark! Recent guests include the first ever D/H at CFB Baden-Soellingen and "Ollie" (Paul Aulenbach) the long-time Centennial Club barman who raised so much money for charity with his long-distance running - he's till playing hockey!
We look forward to seeing some of you in Lahr this year.

Trisha Cornforth
info@kanadahaus.org