Days Out With Our Neighbouring Organisations
Members of BBTA spent a very enjoyable day with members of the Cardiff-Stuttgart Association on 2nd July. They were very impressed by the Herschel Museum and by the facilities at BRLSI, and were pleased to hear about the Herschel Symposium which the latter are organising in October. For many of us it is ideal that we can now participate in such events online. Herschel was, of course, born in Hanover, and his Museum will once again be the focus of a visit by the Bristol-Hannover Council on 17th July.
BHC are currently celebrating the 75th anniversary of their twinning link with a wide range of events and civic visits. One of the more unusual activities was the sailing of a small cutter from Hanover to Bristol, bearing a large barrel of gin. The cutter was actually registered in Brunswick! As it passed through Bath, members of BBTA were invited on board for a short cruise on the canal and the chance to sample some of the Hannover gin, which we can heartily recommend. The barrel must be returned to Hanover, but the contents will be bottled and sold to raise funds for two charities: the Invictus Games and the German War Graves Commission. We wish them bon voyage for the safe completion of their journey
July Update
Readers can catch up on some of BBTA’s activities by downloading our June Newsletter from this website. More recently our member Robert Grözinger gave a wide-ranging talk (in English) for the German Society on German involvement in the Battle of Waterloo. It was especially interesting to hear of the role played by the Black Brunswickers, and the sad fate of their commander, Duke Friedrich Wilhelm.
Meanwhile, bookworms also enjoyed a discussion with our friends from the DEG in Brunswick on “The Day of the Dugong” by John Ironmonger. The next online book club meeting will be later in the summer and have poems and travelling as its theme. There is also the chance to discuss Judith Hermann’s “Daheim” in German on 14th July; once again this is organised by the German Society, and may have a follow up discussion online.
For those of us who want to escape from the digital world, we are very much looking forward to meeting friends from the Cardiff-Stuttgart Association in Bath on 2nd July when they come to visit the Herschel Museum. Members have been invited to join us for various parts of the day.
Brunswick Festivals
As Bath recovers from the exhilaration of its own Festival, Brunswick is currently celebrating three days of street music with the participation of 42 artists from 20 different countries. This is accompanied by a wide range of street food – and entry to all events is free!
At the end of June Brunswick will also be celebrating the “Festival Theaterformen” once again with a variety of performances and participants from 12 countries.
In past years, musical groups from Bath have travelled to Brunswick for the “Kulturnacht”, and it would be great to see some of their German counterparts joining us for the Bath Festival in the future.
Meanwhile in Bath, BBTA will hold its next committee meeting on Friday, 10th June, at 7.15. We are still meeting on Zoom, and anyone interest in attending can contact our secretary at bbta18@hotmail.com and find out more about our plans to meet up with other twinning organisations in July.
Twinning Events & Activities
There is much cause for celebration in our twin city: Eintracht Braunschweig will play in the 2nd Bundesliga again!
Meanwhile in Bath, life has been relatively quiet in the past week with many of our activities being resumed online. Two events to look forward to are Michael Joseph’s talk (organised by Bath German Society) on his family research which reflects the troubled history of central Europe in the 20th and 21st centuries, a talk by Helga Eckart of the CSA on Juli Zeh’s “Corpus Delicti”. These are on 11th and 12th May respectively and further information is available from the usual links.
The BBTA committee continues to plan for further visits by our twinning friends later this year, and these will provide a welcome opportunity to socialise in person.
We are still also hoping that German native speakers resident in Bath would be willing to describe their impressions of their adopted city for the Braunschweig twinning website. If you are interested in this, please contact our secretary for further details: bbta18@hotmail.com
Visit From Brunswick, DEG Online & BGS Update
On a rather chilly April 21st, a group of 19 visitors from Brunswick consisting of arts and sports enthusiasts met in the Parade Gardens for the re-dedication of the Brunswick Garden. In true British fashion, we had enjoyed balmy temperatures the previous day when our visitors were able to stroll round Bath, take in the tourist attractions, explore the restaurants and listen to the brilliant street artists. The Mayor of Bath, Cllr June Player, hosted this event for us, as well as a formal reception in the Guildhall. Our thanks go especially to Paul and Ulla for organising the group visit, and for the many gifts they brought, and it was a great pleasure to meet our twins.
The group will return to Brunswick on Sunday, so they missed the opportunity to join in the online discussion with members of the DEG on 28th April. The topics were a book case project, similar to free libraries in phone boxes, and the reporting of the war in Ukraine. As always, it was interesting to hear about differing experiences and perspectives; the book group hopes to meet again on 23rd June.
The previous week had also seen a Celebration of Twinning, organised by Bath German Society at BRLSI, when members of Bath’s Twinning and Friendship Associations talked about their twin cities, and current projects. This event was recorded and will be available later on the BRLSI YouTube channel.
A new edition of the Newsletter will be published shortly. Members are also welcome to join our next online committee meeting on 6th May; details are available from our Secretary.
Visits From Brunswick
After more than two years it was a great pleasure to welcome our first Brunswick guests in person last week. Paul and Ulla were here on a private visit, but will return at the end of April with a group of 17 friends from Brunswick. Their programme will include some formal meetings with the Mayor of Bath and tourism, but there will be plenty of opportunity for informal contacts and hospitality, and we hope our members will join us in making this a memorable visit.
BBTA also held its regular committee meeting on 25th March when we were pleased to welcome some new members. Various plans for the coming year were discussed, but it seems that April will be a busy month. Apart from the above visit, some of us who enjoy German humour will see Henning Wehn at the Forum on 9th April. Later in the month on 21st April, Bath German Society is holding a Twinning Evening at the BRLSI, which will be an opportunity for representatives of Bath’s Twinning and Friendship Associations to talk to a general public about our work. On the 27th April, the 51st anniversary of our formal links with Brunswick, the Mayor will re-dedicate the Brunswick Garden in the Parade Gardens. Our thanks go to Matt and the staff of the Parks Department, who have made this possible.
We were very saddened to hear of the sudden death of George Odam on 15th March. A tribute to him and his engagement with twinning will appear in our next newsletter.
Upcoming Events
Following our recent committee meetings, some of us met a representative of the Bath Parks Department to consider the replanting of the Braunschweig Garden in the Parade Gardens. This was the opportunity for a gentle stroll through this popular park in the centre of Bath, and we hope that many people will take advantage of this in the coming months. As the pandemic restrictions are being eased it is possible that we may venture even further afield!
In the meantime, we have Jeremy Key-Pugh’s talk on Beethoven to look forward to on 17th March. This has been organised by the Bath German Society and will take place at the BRLSI.
Our Secretary and Treasurer have been contacting members about the change of bank account as subscriptions will be due on 1st April. We hope to welcome potential new members as well. The chair of BBTA has also successfully distributed the twinning calendars, designed by the pupils of King Edward’s School and the Ricarda-Huch-Schule, to members and friends.
We will be meeting members of the DEG online on 3rd March to discuss “A Gentleman in Moscow”, which offers a unique perspective on life in Russia in the middle of the twentieth century.
Our next committee meeting will be held on 25th March.
Abbey Footprint Project & Next Committee Meeting
On 4th February our Vice Chair, Jeremy Key-Pugh, conducted a group of BBTA members and friends around the latest developments in the Abbey Footprint Project. In an informative and lively manner he explained how the hot spring waters will now be used to heat the Abbey – and much more! This amazing project is a definite “must” on a visit to Bath, and we recommend it to all our visitors from Brunswick.
The next committee meeting will take place – on Zoom – on 18th February at 19.15, and members are warmly invited to join us.
Tour Of The Abbey Footprint Project
Last Friday’s meeting of the BBTA committee covered a wide range of activities, and our hopes and plans for 2022. First and foremost is a tour of the Abbey Footprint Project on Friday afternoon, 4th February. Members and friends are warmly invited to join us for this and to partake of refreshments afterwards. For more details please contact our Secretary on BBTA18@hotmail.com. This will be a rare chance to meet in person, as most of our activities, and those of our associated organisations – Bath German Society, the Anglo-German Society of Brunswick, the Bristol-Hannover Council and Cardiff-Stuttgart Association – are still taking place online. This does however provide a wonderful opportunity to meet our counterparts in a number of different cities.
The next committee meeting of the BBTA will be on Friday, 18th February.