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De Week vous présente en boucle les temps forts de l'actualité régionale.
Toernee General met chaque semaine une autre commune à l'honneur.
Over De Rand est un magazine mensuel varié avec des reportages touristiques, culturels et beaucoup plus.

De Week et Toernee General sont sous-titrés du samedi 18h au dimanche 9h.
Over De Rand est sous-titré du dimanche 19h au lundi 17h (le premier et le deuxième dimanche du mois). Téletexte p. 887.

De Redactie - VRT

De Redactie - VRTflandersnews.be is the English news website of the Flemish public broadcaster VRT. They carry all the big news stories in a language you can understand!

flandersnews.be
is Belgium’s leading English language website for news and video reports, current affairs and the best human interest and business stories.

As part of a big media organisation flandersnews is able to draw on the expertise of a team of 300 VRT TV, radio and online journalists. We also bring English language versions of video reports first shown on VRT TV News. thheir Flanders Today section reports on exhibitions and the world of the arts. In our Sports section you can follow the accomplishments of Flemish sportsmen and women.

RandKrant of April 2009

RK09-04 - GEN voor fietsersMotorways for cyclists

The Flemish parliament approved a resolution in which it requests a network of safe cycle paths between Brussels and its periphery. According to the resolution, this network should consist of functional, comfortable and safe bicycle corridors between the Vlaamse Rand and the centre of Brussels. The Flemish parliament requested the Flemish government to have talks with the Brussels Region about the matter this term. It is then up to the next Flemish government to crystallise the resolution. ‘I hope that two or three bicycle routes can be realised between the periphery and Brussels in the short term, says initiator Eloi Glorieux (Groen!). Today, only 1% of commuters from the Vlaamse Rand cycles to their work in Brussels. The reason: too dangerous.

RK09_04 gg patrick mcguireHelping people to see things differently

‘Even as a child I was fascinated with clay’, says the ceramic designer Hugo Meert from Dilbeek. ‘It may be a humble material but it is so very versatile. My goal is to break down barriers and help people see things in a different light.’ Hugo Meert has been running a ceramic workshop at the Strombeek Arts Centre for 15 years now. ‘Creativity and teaching is a perfect combination. Being able to communicate knowledge and skills is both personally gratifying and financially rewarding. Thanks to this basic income I never have to make comprises I don't want to in my work.’ The Strombeek Arts Centre is currently hosting the Down to Earth exhibition, which Meert has organised together with Luk Lambrecht. Seven world famous artists working in other artistic fields have expressed their talents through the medium of clay especially for this exhibition.

RandKrant of March 2009

RK09-03 - basisonderwijsFirst of all 12 months in a Dutch-speaking kindergarten

The number of foreign-language speaking children attending primary school in the Vlaamse Rand is on the increase. In 14 out of the 19 Rand municipalities, over one-quarter of the children speak a language other than Dutch at home. This rise in the number of students with Dutch as a second language is out of step with the trend in the rest of Flanders. Primary schools in the Rand require more resources and more teachers in order to tackle this problem. The Flemish Education Minister, Frank Vandenbroucke (SP.A) has decided that starting from September 2010 children wishing to attend a Dutch-speaking primary school should first of all spend 12 months in the Flemish pre-school education system. Parents will be required to turn up for parent-teacher meetings and adopt a positive attitude towards Dutch. Flemish primary schools in the Rand are reported to welcome this initiative.

Helping people to see things differently

‘Even as a child I was fascinated with clay’, says the ceramic designer Hugo Meert from Dilbeek. ‘It may be a humble material but it is so very versatile. My goal is to break down barriers and help people see things in a different light.’ Hugo Meert has been running a ceramic workshop at the Strombeek Arts Centre for 15 years now. ‘Creativity and teaching is a perfect combination. Being able to communicate knowledge and skills is both personally gratifying and financially rewarding. Thanks to this basic income I never have to make comprises I don't want to in my work.’ The Strombeek Arts Centre is currently hosting the Down to Earth exhibition, which Meert has organised together with Luk Lambrecht. Seven world famous artists working in other artistic fields have expressed their talents through the medium of clay especially for this exhibition.

RandKrant of February 2009

VRT news website for non-native speakers

The Flemish Radio and Television company (VRT) decided not long ago that the time was ripe to launch a news site for English, French and German speakers. ‘VRT is duty-bound to provide information, even if it is not in Dutch’, says Colin Clapson (47), the man behind flandersnews.be.

The flanderninfo.be, flandreinfo.be and flandersnews.be websites feature relevant news items, which the VRT news editorial team have revamped, combined and presented with photo, texts and video clips, in English, French and German. ‘We try to win people over with the major news stories from Flanders and Belgium. The idea is to enable visitors to the site to have meaningful conversations with their neighbours about current events. As well as covering the big news we also report on what is going on in the Vlaamse Rand.’

The right to live in your own district

Ensuring everyone has access to affordable accommodation is the underlying principle of a new draft Decree the Government of Flanders gave the green light to at the end of last year. Thanks to the Land and Dwelling policy the Decree ushers in, heavy investments are set to be made in social housing.

The stock of public accommodation available will be increased to create a further 43,000 low cost dwellings for rent, 21,000 public housing units for sale and 1,000 low-cost plots by 2020. Roel Moens, head of the Tervuren-based social housing agency Elk zijn Huis, welcomes these targets but is concerned they may be financially difficult to achieve in practice.

The Vlaamse Rand, the coastal area and a few municipalities bordering the Netherlands are unique in having the right for people to live in their own districts legally enshrined. ’The requirement for a person to be able to prove having ties with a municipality is not intended to bar French speakers but to offer another way of preventing people from being socially sidelined’, claims Peter Dejaegher, the spokesperson for the Flemish Housing Minister, Marino Keulen (Open VLD).

RandKrant of January 2009

RK09-01 - taalgrens-kortrijkKortrijk could point the way forward

Kortrijk joined forces with Lille and Tournai on January 2008 to form a Euro-Metropolis. The three regions have agreed to work together across language and territorial borders. This Metropolis could help to show a way of breaking the deadlock between Brussels and the Vlaamse Rand. Kortrijk's mayor Stefaan De Clerck (CD&V), who is due to become the president of the Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai Metropolis in March 2009, is convinced it will. ‘Metropolis is not so much a honorary title as a term featured in a European Regulation reflecting the European Union's aim of promoting international and interregional cooperation’, according to De Clerck. The Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai cooperation appears to be succeeding, as concrete issues are now being addressed, such as better rail connections and the fiscal and social status of border workers. De Clerck claims a Brussels-Brabant-Euro Metropolis could provide a suitable framework for Brussels and the surrounding area to forge partnerships without affecting the districts themselves.

RK09-01 - eurosongSpecial EuroSong

A Eurosong festival has been held every two years since 1995 for people with a mental and/or physical disability. 10 promising musical ensembles and soloists from the Vlaamse Rand took part in the preliminary selections that were staged in Overijse and Vilvoorde last January. Half of them got through to the Flemish finals. Solely new tunes qualify and they have to be performed live. A professional jury awards points in the light of the originality of the songs and their interpretation.

‘The participants can really let their hair down. The care sector has accused us of not adopting an ‘inclusive’ approach because this song festival is said to strengthen the distinction between able-bodied and disabled people. From this perspective performers with a disability should be able to join the regular music circuit but that strikes me as being unrealistic’, according to Wim Termote from De Kerselaar in Overijse.


RandKrant

RandKrant is an informative magazine that contains a richly varied cultural agenda. RandKrant also tries to reach residents that speak other languages with English, French or German language summaries.

All residents of the Vlaamse rand receive a free monthly RandKrant in their letter box. Are you not receiving RandKrant but do want a subscription?

Contact: Kaasmarkt 75, 1780 Wemmel. Tel. 02 767 57 89, fax 02 460 32 67. E-mail: randkrant@derand.be


Photo book RAND IN ZICHT

Rand in zicht - coverRand in zicht (Periphery in sight) is a unique photo book about the Flemish periphery around Brussels. The over 300 aerial photos give a surprising and interesting panorama of the region. Aerial photographer Karel Tomeï has captured the 19 Flemish peripheral municipalities in a fascinating and unique manner, producing a strange palette of green, industry and ribbon development.

Rand in zicht is published by Roularta Books in collaboration with the non-profit association ´de Rand´ and with support from the Flemish Government on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the founding of ‘de Rand’.

The book can be purchased in one of the community centres of ‘de Rand’ at the price of € 19.95.

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