News
On 13 April 2012 we returned from a wonderful visit to Schwäbisch Hall in
Germany. This time we flew with Flybe from Birmingham, with a convenient flight departure at 16:30. We had coach travel organised at both ends of the journey. It was a very easy and comfortable way to travel.
We started with a Family Day (our group went to Maulbronn Monastery, now largely a protestant School, with a fascinating history). In the evening we had a Welcome Party in Kornberg (barn)
On Tuesday we went to Veitshöchheim, and boarded a boat for a trip to Würzburg.
We had three hours to explore this beatiful town and then had a guided tour of the Palace (Residence) including the vast wine cellars, where we enjoyed some wonderful fresh tasting Reisling.
Then to Schnelldorf- Unterampfrach and Dinner at the Country Inn Klotz, one of those many German restaurants with seating for over 100
On Wednesday at 11:00 we went to the Town Hall for a reception reception from the Oberbürgermeister Hermann-Josef Pelgrim. He described the economic success of Schwäbisch Hall with unemployment now down to 3% and youth unemployment now below 1%. Our hosts, many of whom were teachers, told us of the guided selection of schools for children, roughly comparable to the secondary technical, secondary modern and grammar school pattern established by the 1944 education act. The Wikipedia entry gives fuller details, and shows the Maulbronn school which some of us visited. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Germany
Interestingly there are no fees for University education, but entrance is based on the Arbitur, a tough school leaving exam.
Later we explored the town and the new shopping centre on the site of the old prison.
We finished the day with a party at the Table Tennis Club in Kottspiel, where Karl Ulreich led his brass band and members of the group served the meal.
On our final day we visited the museum based on one of the forts on the old Roman defences (Limes) against the Germani. Hadrian's wall served a similar purpose. Then to Ellwagen castle, originally a huge country house and now part museum and part government offices, and a final meal in another amazing country restuarant.
It was a great visit, and we all enjoyed meeting up with our many friends, enjoying time with our hosts and the social activities. It is very different from a "foreign holiday", and very much better.
The Goethe Foundation offers Scholarships to young people from all over the world to study the German language in Goethe Institutes in towns throughout Germany.The Institute in Schwäbisch Hall is located in one remaining wing of the old prison.
Last year a Scholarship was awarded to Ian Milodowski from Loughborough. His, most interesting, report can be down loaded and read here.
Membership Renewal Hopefully the last of the membership
renewal forms, due in by the end of January, have now arrived.
Group sizes are as follows: Epinal 28, Gembloux 24, Bhavnagar 7, Zamosc 33, Schwäbisch Hall 37
Loughborough stands up for Twinning. The Elected Mayor of Doncaster, Peter Davies of the English Democrats Party, has recently cancelled all Doncaster's Twinning Links. Our Web site, supporting Twinning, attracted the attention of the Times and of the BBC who set up a debate on the issue last December. Loughborough Twinning was strongly defended by David Walker.
Read to find out why Peter Davies is so antagonistic to twinning and all things to do with the EU.
You can find the You and Yours broadcast here
And the text that was published in the Times here.
The Gembloux Group had a super supper party on 24th Feb 2012 at the house of Alan and Susan Fuller in East Leake, enjoying good company and conversation as well as raising additional funds with which to entertain our Belgian visitors in May.
The Zamość group went to Vilnius in Lithuania last summer and then travelled to the Bison reserve in Eastern Poland before going on to Zamość to visit our friends there.
The latest edition of the twinning newsletter from
Epinal can be found here
More about our Twin Towns
Epinal
Secretary: Hazel Meredith Phone 01509 212008
14 students from Pôle des Métiers - Epinal's vocational college - in training as hairdressers, bakers, pastry cooks, mechanics etc, spent 12 days in February on work experience in Charnwood organised by the Loughborough Chamber of Trade and Commerce. They and the 2 staff members were accommodated at Quorn Hall and such was the welcome they received by everyone, including the Mayor, that the college is keen to repeat the experience with future students.
Epinal's annual Autumn Street Market which is an amazing event completely filling the town centre was on Sunday September 11. David and Julia Wolfe, Jim Matthews, George Booth, Sue Hunt and Judith Sismey set off for the Braderie this Thursday (8 Sept 2011) in two cars with 90+ jars of marmalade and other items which Jim had obtained. Our thanks to the six who represented Loughborough and to all who made the marmalade.
Epinal Town Hall has a list of families and individuals willing to host people from their seven twin towns of which Loughborough is one. If you are interested, please contact the secretary who will put you in touch.
One of our friends from Epinal, who finished her Pharmaceutical training requirements at Loughborough Hospital, celebrated the baptism of he second son on October 1st 2011, and there were friends from Loughborough joining in the festivities.
The latest, and 3rd, issue of the Epinal Twinning Newsletter covers the visit from the students from Pôle des Métiers to Loughborough. It is worth looking at this publication which can be found here
There are 37 active members of this group. New Members are always welcome.
Schwäbisch Hall:
Secretary: Pauline
Hallam Phone 01509 646 847
Our 2012 Visit to Germany was from April 8 to April 13
We are now planning for a return visit from July 29 to August 3 2013
There are 39 active members of this group. New Members are always welcome
Gembloux
Contact: Jenny Carter Phone 01509 233189
We visited Gembloux from 2 June to 7 June 2011 (travelling at 185 mph by Eurostar) and had a fascinating time there. Most British people fail to appreciate the rich heritage and culture of Belgium.
Our first visit was to the Castle of Veves. A
beautiful fairytale-like castle owned by the same
family since the 13th Century.
Other visits were to a snail farm, (with snails for lunch), to a re-enactment of the battle of Ligney (How many other Loughburians know about this famous battle?) and to to the boat lifts of the Canal du Midi. It was a totally fascinating visit.
There are 30 active members of this group. New Members are always welcome
Zamość
Secretary: Sue Holownia, phone 01509 214056
Members of the Zamość Twinning group visited Poland in August 2011 .
They first flew to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, where they were joined by a group from Zamość, our twin town in Poland. Vilnius is steeped in history and the old city has been restored to its former glory.
After a few days in Lithuania they went by coach to the East of Poland to Białowieź National Park, the only Wild Bison reserve in Europe. After spending two nights there the party moved on to Zamość for five nights.
The group from Loughborough was entertained, wined and dined with wonderful Polish hospitality. Everyone agreed that it was a very happy and successful trip.
Bob Holownia, the Chairman, has
invited the Twinning Group in Zamość to visit
Loughborough next Summer.
Date of the next meeting:-TBA
There are 33 active members of this group. New Members are always welcome
The Importance of Twinning
Wars have plagued Europe for thousands of years, culminating in massive destruction and many millions of deaths in the wars of the 20th Century.
A determination to prevent the recurrence of the horrors of 1939-1945 war inspired the leaders of the nations of Europe to work for economic and political co-operation, which led ultimately to the formation of the European Union.
Similarly the leaders of the towns and cities of Europe formed links with Twin Towns across the continent to encourage an appreciation of the civic and personal lives of our fellow Europeans.
The EU has supported and sponsored Town Twinning since 1989 and supports around 11,000 twinning partnerships involving over 80,000 people. Find out more about EU support here
Never again will a British Prime Minister be able to say: "How horrible, fantastic it is that we should be digging trenches and trying on gas-masks here because of a quarrel in a far away country between people of whom we know nothing." (Prime Minister Joseph Chamberlain in September 1938, talking about the invasion of Czechoslovakia by German forces.)
Loughborough was one of the first Twin Towns, linking with Epinal in France more that 50 years ago, ten years later a link was formed with Schwäbisch Hall in Germany and later with Gembloux in Belgium and finally with Zamość in Poland following the expansion of the EU after the collapse of the communist government.
Our main activity is a programme of family exchanges. Each twin town sends a group to visit Loughborough and hosts a group from Loughborough in alternate years.
In addition we send and receive young people who seek work experience, there are official visits by the mayors and civic leaders, there are school exchanges, and sporting exchanges. There have been numerous bridge competitions between the twin towns, as well as visits by choirs and country dancing groups.
We have helped young people from our twin towns to see something of the UK. Tomek Kossowski and Marcin Grabski from Zamość spent six months working in and learning from our local authority and now hold senior positions in the administration of Zamość
Blanche Streb from Epinal spent eight weeks in Loughborough in 2002 working in Loughborough Hospital to complete her qualifications as a pharmacist. She remains a family friend and has invited friends from Loughborough to her wedding to Arnaud in 2006 and to christening celebrations for son Charles in 2011. The family now live in Lyon.
Laura Moczarska has graduated with a degree in
Finance and Accounting at Warwick University in the
summer of 2008. She has now obtained a Master's
degree at Maastricht University, and after a period
as a tax advisor with Ernst and Young in the city of
London she is now working for Google in Dublin.
Agnieszka Słiwa successfully completed a similar
course at Nottingham University and has now returned
to Poland, both have been assisted by the Twinning
Association.
Ina Herrmann, the daughter of our twinning friends in Schwäbisch Hall, has spent 6 weeks with us in spring 2011 in Loughborough. She is currently in her second year at Tübingen University and will graduate qualified to teach English in schools in Germany. During her time with us she had work experience with Charnwood Borough Council and at Loughborough High School, she also visited Oxford and Cambridge, Ely and Eastbourne and spent time in London. Ina now has a scholarship to study at Chapel Hill University in North Carolina for a year.
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Further information about the Loughborough Twinning Association can be obtained from the Secretary, Sue Hunt: Phone 01509 769089, email soohunt@hotmail.com
© Loughborough Twinning Association. Last updated 17 May 2012
This information is supplied by David Walker,
337 Beacon Road Loughborough, on behalf of the
Loughborough Twinning Association. Contacts:
email: David.Walker@BNC.Oxon.org
Phone +441509 215658