Bath – Braunschweig Twinning Association Newsletter No 9 May 2017 In This Issue Monthly meetings Children’s Twinning Games Letter from Braunschweig Update BODS visit to Braunschweig Did you know? Book from Braunschweig Monthly meetings are held in the Mayor’s Parlour in the Guildhall in Bath Next meetings: Friday 5 May 2 pm Friday 2 June 2 pm Friday 7 July (AGM) 2 pm Friday 4 Aug 2 pm Friday 1 Sep 2 pm To join, contact: Hilary Elms, Secretary BBTA 208, Old Frome Rd BATH BA2 5RH 01225 837790 h.elms412@btinternet.com Quick Links www.bath-braunschweigtwinningassociation.co.uk www.deg-bs.de www.bath-alkmaar-eu www.bath-kaposvar.org www.mayorofbath.co.uk Children’s twinning games event Summer 2018 Plans are underway for this event which will probably take place over 7 days next July at Bath University. Children aged 13 to 15 from all 4 twin cities would be participating. Sports could include swimming, athletics, 6 a side football and rounders. Further details in the next Newsletter. Braunschweiger Zeitung’s Erwin Klein left Braunschweig on his Honda Transalp 650 motorcycle on 12 May for a 3000 Km 4 week “Brexit-Tour” of the the 8 British towns that are twinned with towns in Lower Saxony: Chard, Taunton, Bath, Swindon, Windsor, Luton, Heywood and Dumfries. In the aftermath of Brexit and with a general election looming he hopes to talk to as many people as possible to gauge the mood of the country. Erwin was in Bath 22 to 24 May and met Bath’s Mayor, Councillor Paul Crossley and several members of the BBTA. He was most impressed by the enthusiastic support of Councillor Paul Crossley in this weekend’s decisive match between Braunschweig and Wolfsburg Bristol Meeting On 12th May Bryan Chalker, Chairman of Bath-Braunschweig Twinning Association, and Judy Spencer attended a conference on “Challenge and Opportunity in Furthering British-German Understanding” in Bristol’s splendid City Hall. This conference was organised jointly by the British-German Association and the Bristol-Hannover Council (which was celebrating the 7th anniversary of its twinning) and hosted by the City of Bristol. Over 120 participants were welcomed by Mayor Marvin Rees, who talked about Bristol’s international links and mentioned the “Global Parliament of Mayors”. The main themes of all speakers were the importance of youth involvement in exchanges and in the Associations themselves, and that twinning would be even more important in a post-Brexit world. Bryan chaired a workshop on “The View from both Sides” which was intended to give participants the opportunity to discuss ideas on twinning as seen from the British and German perspectives, and a lively discussion ensued with participants exchanging useful advice. The overall message is that anything is possible if we look for the ways and the means, and that twinning is not only fun – it often leads to marriages! Letter from Braunschweig What’s on in Braunschweig? The DEG sends best regards from Braunschweig where we are expecting a large number of cultural events such as the Northern European Cathedrals Conference in connection with the 500th anniversary of the Reformation and thus many international guests in the next months, among others the visitors from Bath Bridge Club and from BODS. We are looking forward to meeting you very soon. After what seems like a long winter many activities are about to take place; the DEG itself will move to another location at Kulturpunkt West so we can finally forget our worries about finding a suitable parking space and will even have the chance to sit outside in a lovely garden in summer. What we need now is sunshine and comfortable temperatures. Katrin Landsmann (Deutsch-Englische G’schaft) Update on BODS visit to Braunschweig 6 to 10 June At present 8 or 9 BODS members will be participating, travelling by air and staying in low cost flats in Braunschweig. They will be part of the secular or friendship visit which coincides with but is not part of the North European Cathedrals Conference. There will be visitors from Nimes, Braunschweig’s French twin city. There will be one or more excursions e.g. by steam trains in the Harz Mountains. Anyone from Bath is most welcome to come. There is still some cheap accommodation available. Please contact Paul KAVANAGH pkavanagh@t-online.de Did you know? The Hanseatic League or Hansa was a medieval trading association of merchants in northern Europe which some historians have likened to an early common market. At its height in the 16th century there were over 170 Hansa towns in northern Germany, the Baltic and the North Sea from London in the West to Novgorod in the East and as far South as Braunschweig. In fact some historians trace the origins of the Hansa to the rebuilding of Lubeck by Henry the Lion in the 12th century. The Hansa legacy is evident today in the name of the national airline Lufthansa and the car number plates of several North German cities which start with the letter H (e.g.HB… for Hansestadt Bremen) Individual Exchange visits: are you interested in visiting Braunschweig? perhaps staying with a family in Braunschweig? and maybe inviting them to stay with you in Bath? Contact Barbara Heck at the DEG (see link) Stammtisch If you...
