Facebook

40th Anniversary of the twinning agreement

By on Dec 18, 2013

Share On GoogleShare On FacebookShare On Twitter

The Mayor (2011-12) Councillor Bryan Chalker was invited to Braunschweig to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Twinning Agreement. He was accompanied by The Mayoress, Mrs Glenys Chalker, The Chairman of the Standing Committee of Charter Trustees, Councillor Gerry Curran and the Clerk to the Charter Trustees, Mrs Ann Tipper.
The ceremony was held at Richmond Castle on 30 September 2011, where The Mayor signed their ‘Golden Book’. The next day there were German-English prayers in Braunschweig Cathedral and a moving service outside by the statue of ‘The Bereaved’ and the English Rose. This rose has been climbing the wall of the cathedral since the millennium year when it was planted on ‘England Day’ –
4 June to commemorate 825 years of links between the cathedral and England.
Councillor Chalker’s Mayoral theme was ‘Bath’s Industrial Heritage’ and he drives an 38-year-old East German Trabant car so he was very interested in a tour of the Volkswagen ‘Car City’ museum next to their automobile factory in Wolfsburg and a visit to a former railway workshop. Another highlight was a ‘Moonlight Shopping’ evening where the shops stayed open and the mall was filled with displays from the Braunschweig Research Institutes. The Anglo-German Association treated the delegation to a tour of the splendid Palace of Wolfenbüttel. There was a poignant reminder of Germany’s divided past at the former border with the GDR.