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Fabrice Cahen
Published on
Nov 19 2024 at 6:58 p.m
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He was one of the big awaited guests during the evening celebrating the 50 years of the Louvrais neighborhood centerMarc Farge, who was elected in Pontoise (Val-d'Oise) for seven terms, since Adolphe Chauvin, was there, in 1974, during the inauguration of the district's facilities.
Then deputy in charge of the work, he remembers. “It was the birth of neighborhood centers, which were to be vectors of social bond,” explains the man who will remain elected in Pontoise from 1971 to 2020.
Officially opened on November 15, 1974the Louvrais house was actually put into service in January 1975 and it began by operating with two animators and a secretary. The objective was to make the social space, “a place for the emergence of ideas where its organizers would advocate total freedom of expression”, we note in the November 22, 1974 edition of The Echo of Cergy-Pontoiseabout the desired destination of the neighborhood facility created in the emerging city of Louvrais, which should be able to have a community living space.
“It is also a place of memory, which spans time.
Marc Farge saw the neighborhood emerge from the ground with his neighborhood houseits theater, its center for young workers, then those of Marcouville and Larris-Maradas. A renovation of the building took place and it was again he, who combined his municipal mandate and his profession as a lawyer with the Pontoise bar, who was in charge of the work. “A heavy investment with modernization of the building. It is to Nathalie Legall that this space owes its development,” he emphasizes, regarding the current director of the socio-cultural center.
Dominique Durand director from 1989 to 1995
Originally from Vendée, Dominique Durand, who preceded Nathalie Legall as director of the neighborhood center, arrived in Louvrais in 1981 for a mission as a facilitator. “Before working in the neighborhood center, I filmed in cellars, stadiums, building lobbies… I went to meet young people who did not frequent municipal facilities,” remembers the one who succeeded to Jean-Pierre Rossignol. He is at the origin of the Atmosphère association, which worked to organize events within the Louvrais theater. “We have organized exceptional evenings there with renowned music groups. Les Innocents, Mano Negra, Bérurier Noir… went through Louvrais,” recalls the former manager.
The theater room, which could then accommodate 350 people, brought together up to 600 people. “There were as many people outside as there were inside.” So much so that concert evenings had to be extended. “The Bérurier Noir group had to return two evenings in a row to allow the public to enjoy it. It returned on a Sunday afternoon. We had integrated culture as a vector of social bond. And the little theater of Louvrais had become a recording studio”, underlines Dominique Durand, who remembers the visit, in April 1986, of Alex Shilton (died in 2010), member of the groups Box Tops and Big Star, whose concert had been the subject of a recording at the Louvrais theater. “The American singer could not find a venue in Paris and he ended up at the Louvrais. A Shilton tribute vinyl will soon be released,” adds the former host.
Energy
In office since 1997, Nathalie Legall is at the initiative of the anniversary event which took place on November 15. An event which brought together many former members and association supervisors. “It is the residents who are the pillars of this neighborhood center,” said the director of the center.
“When I was a member of the neighborhood center, Nathalie already had this surprising energy,” Véronique Leparmentier, president of Aquarel, the association which manages the Louvrais and Marcouville neighborhood centers, did not fail to point out. “She has the gift of retaining members,” says the retiree who returned to service in 2024.
Half a century later, community life is still as active there. Under the administration of the Aquarel association, more than 80 volunteers carry out the daily activities.
Place of life
“Neighborhood houses are often the places of a life, where we shared moments between residents,” expressed Stéphanie Von Euw, mayor (Lr), after inaugurating the Corridor of Memories, an exhibition dedicated to 50 years of the building. “It is also a place of memory, which transcends time, through the generations of members who have succeeded one another,” declared Christel Bonne, prefect delegate for equal opportunities. “The State will continue to support these structures,” she promises.
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