As Coronation fever reaches its peak, members of BBTA continue to enjoy other ways of forging friendly international relationships with our counterparts in Brunswick and among our like-minded compatriots.  We are planning many social activities for the coming months, and among these are the walk round Prior Park Garden (which was postponed to 22nd May) and a visit to the Theatre Royal to see BODS performing “Guys and Dolls”.  This has been well-reviewed in the local press and we are looking forward to an entertaining show.  BODS have previously visited Brunswick to take part in the Kulturnacht, and this year some young musicians from Bath Spa University will be demonstrating their talents at this lively festival on 17th June. A group of Bath Bridge players will also be visiting Brunswick at the end of May to take part in several tournaments, meeting some of the friends who first came to Bath in 2016, and exploring Brunswick and the surrounding area. Our monthly online book club with members of the DEG continues to be an enjoyable chance to discuss some interesting books and to exchange news.  The May session will discuss “Lessons in Chemistry”.  The BBTA chair will also be leading a discussion on a newly re-published East German novel for the German Society in June. Members and friends are always welcome to join us in these activities, or at BBTA meetings – the next one of which is on Thursday 25th May, and will once again be held in the Guildhall.  For further details of how to become involved please contact our secretary...

Every year Bath celebrates its status as a World Heritage City and this year’s event coincided with the second Assembly of the Great Spa Towns of Europe.  Bath is one of the 11 towns which share this World Heritage Site, a distinction awarded by UNESCO in July 2021 and which complements Bath’s first award in 1987.  To mark the occasion an exhibition of local conservation and heritage projects was held, involving many “hands on” activities for younger and not-so-young members of the public.  One of the speakers at the event was Anna Maria Boll from Bad Kissingen (one of the three German Great Spa Towns) who explained her town’s historical, architectural and even political significance.  Bad Kissingen lies to the south of Brunswick, but would be well worth a visit. In the meantime, members of BBTA and the Bath German Society will be exploring more of our heritage in a walk around Prior Park Garden;  we hope to expand our ornithological and botanical vocabularies, and possibly even our waistlines.  Our March newsletter has now been published, and our next meeting will be on 23rd March, in the Guildhall.  All members are welcome to...

Braunschweig International was a great success last weekend and you can see photos of the DEG stall here:  https://www.deg-bs.de/deutsch/fotogalerie/  Our friends were offering British finger food and books, as well as information about Bath, and tell us that they attracted many German and international visitors, including the current and previous Lord Mayors.  We hope we can manage something similar at Bath’s Christmas Market in December.

At a time of national mourning, it is with regret that the civic visit of Brunswick’s Lord Mayor and colleagues, which was planned for the weekend of 10th – 12th September, has had to be cancelled.  The Lord Mayor has paid tribute to the late Queen in a letter to the Mayor of Bath.  It is hoped that the visit can be re-scheduled for later this year. One visit which did go ahead, however, was that of some former school pupils of Belfast and Marburg (Kirchhain) who still meet regularly to celebrate their first exchange back in 1966.  We owe this contact to a member of the Cardiff-Stuttgart Association, and members of BBTA and Bath German Society had great pleasure in meeting them and showing them the famous – and some less famous – sights of Bath, giving them a guided tour in English and German. Online meetings with the DEG continue, most recently to discuss the theme of travelling in poetry.  The book chosen for the next meeting is:  “The Dictionary of Lost Words” by Pip Williams.  Bookworms are welcome to join us by contacting the secretary of BBTA. At the end of September Brunswick is hosting a festival “Braunschweig International” celebrating – as the name implies – our twin town’s international links.  We have contributed information about Bath for potential visitors. Our next meeting takes place on Friday, 16th September, when we hope to make plans for...