Facebook

BBTA Newsletter No. 9

By on May 28, 2017

Share On GoogleShare On FacebookShare On Twitter

Two Countries, Twin Flags

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.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 would like to practise your German in a friendly informal atmosphere over  ‘Kaffee und Kuchen’ come to the Stammtisch –  every Wednesday throughout the year between midday and 1:00pm, in the upstairs room at Cafe Retro, 18 York Street, Bath (by Bog Island).

Our Book from Braunschweig
Our latest book from Braunschweig is “Léon und Louise” by the French-born Swiss author Alex Capus. It is an unusual love story, narrated by the grandson of the male protagonist, which is played out sporadically in the background of an account of 20th century French history. There is an autobiographical element in as much as the author is a historian, whose grandfather also worked for the forensic police in Paris, which makes the narrative all the more convincing. The chapters describing the occupation of Paris from 1940 – 1944 are particularly moving, and at times Kafkaesque in their depiction of the work of Room 205.
This is a fascinating novel which portrays the survival of the human spirit in the face of adversity. It is well worth reading.
Judy Spencer

*, *, *, Bath, Somerset * United Kingdom
Sent by guestmartin@hotmail.com in collaboration with
Constant Contact