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New Galleries The 2009 Reunion Gallery was greatly expanded this fall. Now, we also have two new blasts from the past: Gallery 1965-1967 Paul von Kulmiz sent this gallery. Recognize anyone?

Gallery 1961 Jessica Iwanson sent these photos via Jeannine Lindt Saunders, of Près Fleuris in 1961. As usual, we are ignorant of the subjects: take a look and send us your captions.

n the late 1950’s, in a small alpine village, a boarding school was started. For the next 30 years, it saw a steady stream of international boys and girls come though its wooden cedar doors, stay in its dorms, eat its food, and learn from its teachers. In the mid-80’s, as a sign of changing times, the school became a Hotel and Restaurant Management school, no longer catering to the rich or diverse kids of royalty and diplomats, army and oil company brats, but instead to the business of catering. The owner of the boys’ school, Marcel Clivaz, and his brother, Roget, owner of the nearby girls’ school, later sold the school to an American enterprise. The school and its buildings still exist, guarding the secrets of all that happened during those wonder years. Faded memories are all that remain in the minds of the roughly 3,500 grown men and women scattered all over the world who last passed through those cedar doors as kids. This web site is dedicated to keeping those memories alive, and to re-kindling past friendships.

This is the unofficial website of the original international boarding school, Ecole Des Roches, and Pres Fleuris, in Bluche-sur-Sierre, Valias, Switzerland. If you attended LR/PF (it doesn’t matter if you graduated from the school, most of us did not), you may want to register your name so that this web site can help you keep in touch with old classmates and inform you of future reunions. If you did not attend that school, or attended it when it was a hotel management school, then not much of this web site will interest you, but you’re welcome to browse through it. However, you will not be able to register as an alumnus. In order to register your name at this web site, you must receive a password (this keeps curious, unwanted browsers away). To obtain the password, please send an email to . State your name and the years you attended the school. We’ll send you the password promptly.

Background of Friends Of Bluche

The unofficial alumni association of Ecole Des Roches/Pres Fleuris is called Friends of Bluche (FOB). FOB was started by Margaret Mallon, (PF 71-74). Over the years, there have been seven reunions – 1991, hosted by Brendan Foulkes, (LR 70-72) in the Bahamas; 1994, hosted by Giancarlo Felli (LR 70-73) in Montana Crans; 1997 hosted by Mark Uhlfelder (LR 73-75) in Aspen Colorado; 2003 hosted by Pradeep Kapadia in Woodstock, New York; 2004, hosted by Ottavia Giorgi Monfort and Giancarlo and Nati Felli, in Montana Crans; 2005 in Lake Como, Italy, 2005, hosted by Massimo Ciceri; and 2007 in Banff.

While each reunion is different because of the venue and the attendees, they tend to have several common themes – a ‘promenade obligatiore’, a soiree, plenty of good food and drink (to make up for lack thereof during those starved years), and always a few surprises. Many alumni bring their spouses and/or kids, and it is surprising and heartwarming how well the spouses, and especially the kids, get along. Occasionally, we are honored to have old school teachers join us during the reunions, such as Denis and Joy Hill, Roberto Grissotti, Irene Neveau, Cornelia, and of course, Mr. Marcel Clivaz himself.

In addition to reunions, Friends of Bluche (FOB) published several newsletters between 1990 and 1998. The high cost of mailing the newsletters and the high rate of returned mail put an end to the newsletters. It is hoped that the newsletters in this web site will reach more alumni, at little or no cost. We also have an archive of photographs, past and present, that alumni have sent over the years. These will be posted on this web site for all to see. If you have photographs and would like them posted on this site, email them to .