Every Easter the fountains in Nyon are decorated by the various clubs and organisations in the town. This year, the International Women's Club of Nyon (IWCN ) has decorated one of these fountains to celebrate nearly 30 years of the club's existence. The IWCN was founded in June 1987 as a non-profit organisation for English-speaking women residing in Nyon and the surrounding region. IWCN has been welcoming women from all corners of the world to Nyon during that time, from Swaziland to Switzerland and further afield. The club's purpose is to promote friendly contacts among women of all nationalities through multiple activities, and to help facilitate the integration of newcomers. The club consists of approximately 550 members taking part in more than 50 interest groups, ranging from cookery and culture to sports and languages. The Decorated IWCN fountain The tree in the centre of the fountain is an apple tree: a feature of the region with many apple orchards in the Nyon area. The tree itself represents the roots that newcomers put down when they arrive in a new place and their branching out in new directions. The clusters of eggs on the decoration refer to the different interest groups in the club. The flags represent the many nationalities that are in the club today. If you want to find out more about IWCN - click here. Their decorated fountain is near the Usine à Gaz by the lake. There will be more fountains decorated in Nyon over the coming days. From the 8th until the 23rd April there will be a competition (an entry form can be picked up at Nyon Tourist Board) to do a "tour" of all the fountains. Complete an answer sheet and be in with a chance of winning a prize.

On Monday 3rd April at 20:30 "Beauty and the Beast" will be shown at Nyon cinema in English as part of the Monday movie series of films. On Tuesday 4th April, "The Asphalt Jungle" with Sterling Hayden, Jean Hagen, Louis Calhern and Marilyn Monroe will be screened at 20:30 as part of its classic movie series. The April Living in the Know podcast is now out! This podcast is a collaboration between Living in Nyon and Know-it-All-passport Fish, fountains and chocolate The official start of the fishing season started a few weeks ago. Lisa and Catherine explain about fishing in the lake and local rivers. Lisa talks about chocolate fish and Catherine explains about the decorated Easter fountains in Nyon. Tune in to hear how you say “April Fool" in French and how Catherine fooled a lot of readers in a newspaper article many years ago! https://soundcloud.com/living-in-nyon/april-v-2 Links mentioned in podcast Fishing permit info

Cully Jazz festival started on the 31st March and will continue until the 8th April. Once a year, this pretty wine village near Lausanne turns its wine cellars, bars and hotels into music venues for the entire festival. It's a great place to hang out and listen to either free music in the atmospheric cellars or paid music with big named artists in the official concert areas. Living in Nyon has posted a few Facebook live videos from the festival - check them out! The festival is a short walk from Cully railway station. There are food stands and temporary restaurants in tents at the festival selling everything from Thai food to Raclette, Waffles, Crêpes and more. The programme is in English and tickets can be bought online.

If you love chocolate, the Chocolate Festival in Versoix is the place to be this weekend! Festichoc is a chocoholics delight. All information on the Festichoc website - Click here and see video below.

Above - "Roped up" in the Patrouille des Glaciers - photo, courtesy Visions du Reél Nyon's big documentary film festival - Visions du Réel is just around the corner (21-29 April) and the full programme of films is now online. A handy pocket-sized printed physical programme will be made available shortly and distributed around the town. It will also be handed out at the Nyon Saturday market on the 1st and 8th April. If you are commuting to work from Nyon railway station on Wednesday the 5th April, volunteer staff will be handing out programmes between 08:00 - 09:00 so you can read the programme on the way to work! There are over 179 documentaries from over 55 countries on offer at this prestigious festival which is open to the general public. Many of the films are in English or subtitled in English. As in previous years, Living in Nyon will be reviewing films and recommending films to watch at the festival. Two special screenings at the festival will be on two Nyon "heros" - André Borschberg in "Solar Impulse, the Impossible Round the World Mission" (screening on 26th April at 21:30) and Jacques Muyal with "Jazz - The only way of Life" (on 23rd April at 19:00) "Encordés" is the avant-première film open to the general public (free entry). The film focusses on the Patrouille des Glaciers, a military ski mountaineering race which is open to civilians. The race is considered to be one of the most extreme mountain events today. The film will be screened on the 20th April at the Théâtre de Marens at 19:30 with a second screening at the Salle Communale in Nyon at 20:00 and further screenings (also at the Salle Communale) on the 22nd at 10:00 and in Gland on the 22nd at 22:00. Note - the avant- première films are always popular so reserve your ticket early! See trailer below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RStMubuKyK8 For the third year running, the town of Gland is also collaborating with the festival and will hold screenings of its own. There will be free navette buses running between the film venues in the two towns during the festival. There are other new additions to the festival this year from food trucks at the Visions du Réel central venue, to a venue where you can dance until dawn, exhibitions and more. Keep checking this site out for updates during the festival. Become a friend of the festival For readers that are interested in experiencing the Festival from the" inside", becoming a member of the Association des Amis of Visions du Réel entitles members of the association to receive exclusive privileges such as invites to special events, they will receive the full catalogue of films, an apéro with other film friends during the festival, a reduced price abonnement during the festival and more. Click here for more details Note - membership fees are tax deductible.

The line up for Paléo 2017 was revealed today Tuesday the 28th March, and along with the news that the Red Hot Chili Peppers will be headlining in Nyon on the first night (Tuesday 18th July), it was also announced that this year there will be the opportunity for "glamping" (glamorous camping) on site for the entire festival. Camping on the main campsite is free for ticket holders and always has been, but this year, those who want that extra bit of comfort festival-goers can pay for a Podpad. These range from little multi-coloured wooden houses for two people, to a giant yurt style tent for six, with real beds, real mattresses and hot showers on offer! These Podpads will be in an area called the Pal'Asse campsite (note the play on words "palace" and pal'Asse). L'Asse is the name of the fields and the train stop where Paléo is situated. Full details and prices, see here Line-Up The line-up this year includes among others include: Arcade Fire, Midnight Oil, Jamiroquai, Manu Chao, Foals, Pixies, Temples, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Black M. See full programme here. The general theme for music over the 6 days is: Tuesday - Rock, Wednesday - Pop Rock, Thursday - Pop/ Electro/ Rock, Friday - Hip - Hop, Saturday - Chanson, Sunday - Urban World and Classical (with the Geneva Chamber Orchestra). Midnight Oil playing on Weds 19th July Central America is the theme of the music in the Village du Monde area for 2017. There will be music from Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Honduras, Trinidad and Tobago and more. Programme here There will also be tasty food from the Central American region. Here are three bands who will be playing at the Village du Monde 2017 Systema Solar from Columbia - playing on Weds 19th Delgrès from Guadeloupe - Playing on Sunday 23rd Calypso Rose from Trinidad and Tobago - playing on Sunday 23rd Swiss Artists - Paléo is a big promoter of bands from Switzerland and Daniel Rossellat, President of Paléo revealed the line-up of Helvetic bands and artists due to perform at the festival this year, including Fai Baba (video below). There will be more info on some of these Swiss bands here on Living in Nyon in the next few months. Tickets As ever, Living in Nyon recommends to all readers that when tickets go on sale on Wednesday 5th April at midday, you should get in line early at any of the tickets sales outlets (including the onsite Paléo shop) or get online early. Last year, tickets sold out within 8 minutes for certain nights! More signs of summer in Nyon Along with the Paléo line up, there are more signs of summer as La Roulotte (the outdoor railway carriage café behind the station), announced its re-opening for Monday 3rd April at 07:00. The staff were busy preparing for the event in the sunshine today, Tuesday.

Nyon town council has produced a video which outlines the proposed development plans for the town from 2017 up until 2030. The programme is called "Coeur de ville ("Heart of the town"). The council has identified five main areas which it considers a priority: developing the town centre, encouraging economic and social diversity, improving the public spaces and their infrastructure, improving the means of transport and reinforcing the standing and image of the town. The video is in French, however it is easy to get a rough idea of the plans which include building a subterranean car park in Place Perdtemps which will transform the car park into a green park, enlarging the tunnel de l'Etraz to improve traffic mobility, increasing the shops and commerces around Place Perdtemps and improving the area around the Place du Château for both residents and tourists. Some of the proposed work will start as early as this summer. See video below. Also, look out for the council's brochure called "Vivre à Nyon, which is delivered to all households. This brochure explains the proposed plans in more detail.

Living in Nyon will be taking a short break and will return on Tuesday 28th March with suggestions on things to do over the Easter holidays, an interview with a student at the wine school of Changins near Nyon, local news and information and much more! Spring is round the corner and the ice cream shop down on the Rive is now open! Photo in header - sunrise over Nyon in mid-March.

For its third event of the 2016-2017 season, l'Elastique Citrique (the circus school in Nyon) is organising an evening on the 18th March which will be open to the general public. The ticket office and the buvette will open at 18:00 and a performance called "Tempo!" will be performed at 19:00. This production is a result of over six months of students' work at the school. Entrance is free for the under 5s. The performance lasts around 40 minutes. There will also be a production at 20:30 performed by the professionals of the school. Juggling, circus skils acrobatics and more. "Tempo!" is also scheduled to be performed outside in the street from the 10-15th July in the Nyon area.

Nyon tourist office offers a variety of guided tours of the town for visitors and locals alike, including: "Gourmet Tours", "Le Chemin du Crime" (the "Crime route" tour), a "Spontanée" tour (this is where visitors can turn up without a reservation) and "The Traces of Tintin" tour. Now a new tour has been added to the list called the "Sites Religieux" (Religious sites) tour. Guided tours last around 1 hour and 30 minutes and can be given in French, English, German, Spanish and Italian. Some of the tours end with un verre de l'amitié (a glass of wine!) For more details see Nyon tourist office. Note: There are aslo tours of Coppet and Rolle available.

Anti-Racism week in French-speaking Switzerland is in March and there are lots of events planned across the Cantons. See here. In Nyon, local events will take place from the 18th-23rd March beginning with an opportunity on Saturday the 18th March for members of the public to have a coffee, a croissant and a chat to others from 09:00-12:00 in front of the La Combe shopping centre in Nyon. On Tuesday 21st March at 19:00 there will be a projection of films and a round table discussion in French at the Salle du Conseil Communal followed by an apéro at 20:30 in the wine cellar of the château. On Friday 24th Marchfrom 10:00 there will be a joint cooking workshop with the participation of local cultural associations, and asylum seekers. Members of the public are also welcome to come along and bring a dish from their country of origin to be shared at one big communal meal in the evening. For more information, contact Christiane Piazzini, Telephone 022 316 41 07, mobile 079 211 02 74 or email christiane.piazzini@nyon.ch Note: Christine speaks English. Also on Friday 24th March at 18:30 there will be a masked children's parade in Place Saint-Martin followed by music and food from around the world at the Salle Communale. There will be videos, posters and an exhibition of work created by the children in the network of after-school clubs and associations (read more here about them). There will also be an illustration of a recent project between a local art therapist and EVAM who have been working with a group of local asylum seekers, and have designed and painted a mural for their shelter. Flyers with details of anti-racism week will be distributed to all Nyon households More details - click here 

From September 2017, Geneva English School will be welcoming students from age 11 to 14 in its brand new Secondary site in Versoix in a state-of-the-art environment. There will be an Open House evening at this Secondary campus on Thursday 16th March 2017. This is a chance to meet members of the GES Secondary teaching staff and to hear about the school's innovative approach to education. The Open House will be from 18:30-20:30 at the Modulis Building, Route de Suisse 160, 1290 Versoix. The guest of honour will be Julian Braithwaite, Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UK Mission in Geneva. For registration click hereGeneva English School 022 775 04 40 admin@geschool.chwww.geschool.ch See previous 2015 Living in Nyon article on the GES primary school here