Vorlage (Pressespiegel_Royal Leamington Spa_2017)

Pressespiegel Besuch der Delegation aus Royal Leamington Spa 8. – 12. April 2017 In Brühl Gemini Spring 2017 Leamington International Twinning Society Magazine Inside this Issue Chairman’s Letter 1/2. Chairman’s Letter, Upcoming Events and a sad The April visit to Brühl, was a great week- farewell to Marjorie Jones Dear Friends, end and my sincere thanks to everyone 3/4. LITS AGM Report who contributed to the success of it. It was of course a special privilege to be present during the naming of the Leamington-Spa-Platz. The ceremony is well documented elsewhere in this issue of Gemini so I will have to refrain from making more detailed comments. The weather was perfect and it was good to see the Phone Box being put to good use. One interesting thing happened during the event. Chris Begg decided to look at some of the books in the phone box and discovered an original 1935 German driving licence folded inside a page of one of the books. The driver details, examiner’s name and dates were legible. The licence was printed on velum. I would imagine an attempt will now be made to trace the owner’s family. 1 5/6. Another Bit of England in Brühl 7/8. The Official Twinning Dinner 9/10. Cochem: Quite a Castle 11/12. Weingut Sonneneck 13. An Evening with our Hosts 14. Visit to the Keramion Ceramic Museum 15/16. The Biggest Hole in Germany 17/18. Nan King Buffet 19. An Indian Meal at Sitar 20. LITS Officers and contact details Not surprisingly Brexit was mentioned a few times and I am sure we all regard ourselves as Europeans and believe that twinning is as important as ever. Upcoming Events Day trip to Portsmouth to the Mary Rose on Saturday June 10th. LITS Garden Party at 96 Whitemoor Road Kenilworth on Saturday July15th. Details to be advised. A LITS stand at Art in the Park on 5/6th of August. The visit to Cochem was a great success. After visiting the Schloss the trip to the vineyard was greatly enjoyed by all and the picture shows a table with four of our new members sampling the delights of the Mosel region. Visit to the Cotswold Distillery in Shipston-onStour with Lunch at the Cherington Arms on Saturday Sept 9th. Details to be advised. An incoming visit from Sceaux from Oct 28th to Nov 1st. On your behalf, I have sent an invitation to LITS Christmas Lunch on Sceaux to visit Leamington from Oct 28th to Dec 3rd. Details to be Nov 1st 2017. The committee are already advised. working on a programme and I hope many of you will be able to participate. A Very Sad Farewell We are making strenuous efforts to As some of you may re-energise our social programme and I already know Marjorie hope you will all be able to participate. In Jones passed away on particular, a prompt response to all emails is Saturday 6th of May. At important for obvious planning purposes - a the time of writing a yes, no or maybe is all that is initially memorial service is required. planned for 2.30 p.m. on Monday 5th June at the With all best wishes. Baptist Church in Leamington. John Mather 2 2017 LITS Annual General Meeting By Tony Bass If you were unable to attend the LITS AGM on 23rd February 2017, this report should give you an idea of what took place. The LITS President, Ann Morrison the Mayor of Leamington, opened the meeting by welcoming all the Officers and members of the society with a special welcome to the new members and to Stanley Birch as a founder member of LITS. There were a number of apologies for absence. The Minutes of the last meeting were duly approved and there were no matters arising. The LITS Chairman, John Mather thanked everyone for their attendance and the committee members and Town Council, particularly Robert Nash for their support. All members of the committee had agreed to stand again, with the exception of Fiona Trewick. John Mather gave his annual report for the past year and made particular mention of the work of Mo Enright who organized the Art in Park stand which had helped to attract a number of members, although he made it clear there was still concern about the declining numbers of active LITS members. Other concerns he raised included the need to find a new chairman to replace him, and the increasing costs of visits to our twin towns as a result of the rising coach hire charges and the smaller numbers of travellers. As coach transport remained the preferred option of most members he had held discussions with Kenilworth Twinning Society about possible coach sharing as their twin town in France, Bourg-la-Reine, is located very close to Sceaux. However, this would involve co-ordinating the Leamington and Kenilworth visit dates to France in future, and is the subject of ongoing discussions. Margaret Begg gave a report on the twinning with Brűhl. There had been a very successful incoming visit from Brűhl last year with a record 54 visitors including 8 young members. There was some discussion about the difficulties of hosting such a large group and John and Margaret agreed to talk about these issues with their counterparts in Brűhl when they visit in April. The program itself had gone very well and included a visit to Blenheim Palace and Hill Close Gardens.. 3 Sue Staddon gave report on the twinning with Sceaux. The outgoing visit in April had included 23 LITS members, who were treated to an excellent programme which included a visit Louis Vuitton Foundation art gallery as well the gardens and greenhouses of Serres d'Auteuil plus a visit to Chateau Fontainebleau. Sue also confirmed that new link is now developing between Kenilworth School and Collège Lakanal in Sceaux. There will be an incoming visit from Sceaux to Leamington from Oct 28th to Nov1st and hosting for about 35 guests will be required Jenny Mather reported on the Social Programme which in 2016 had included a garden party hosted by the Simon and Nancy Wheeler, a Christmas lunch at the Woodside Hotel, and a mulled wine evening. Unfortunately the proposed skittles evening had to be cancelled due to a lack of support. The following social events are proposed for this year: Indian and Italian evening meals, a garden party, a visit to the Mary Rose in Portsmouth plus a mulled wine evening and a Christmas lunch. It had been decided not to hold the Christmas lunch at the Woodside Hotel this year in view of a substantial increase in the price being charged and alternative venues were under review. Jenny said she had been somewhat disappointed by the number of responses she had received to the events letter she had sent out as this made it difficult to finalize plans for the various events. She therefore requested members to be proactive in advising her whether or not they would like to attend any of the various events. Colin Beadle presented the Annual Financial Report and Accounts. These showed that LITS is in a good financial position with a balance of £5,095 at the year end in the bank. However, with rising costs of postage and other issues it had been agreed by the committee to increase membership fees slightly from 2018. The accounts were duly agreed and approved. Colin reported that one grant of £300 had been made from the Young Persons Fund in the year to support the One World Link. Due to very low interest rates now being paid on the fund the overall the balance had reduced to £3,645. Suggestions regarding using this fund to provide support for young people from our twin towns coming to Leamington for work experience would require a change to rules governing the use of the money in the fund. Colin also confirmed that Karen Chapman would remain as the auditor for the coming financial year. Under Any Other Business Leslie Beadle raised her concerns about youngsters under the age of 18 being served alcohol at social events. This will be further considered by the committee. There then followed the Election of Executive Committee, John Mather as Chairman and Colin Beadle as Hon. Treasurer. The Positions of Deputy Chairman and Hon Secretary remained vacant as there were no nominations. The following nominees were elected as Members of the Committee. Tony Bass, Mo Enright, Susan Staddon, Margaret Begg, Jennifer Mather, Simon Wheeler and Robert Nash as an Ex Officio Member. Finally Ann Morrison made the draw for last years Gemini contributors. The winners were Bill and Caroline Gifford who won a bottle of Champagne. 4 Another Bit of England in Brühl By David and Pat Carson Brühl is perhaps the only town in Germany which already boasts three tangible links with England or more particularly with Royal Leamington Spa. Firstly, on the outskirts of the town, in a small park, there is a fountain which was sponsored by the Volksbank in 1979 to mark the links between the three towns of Brühl, Sceaux and Royal Leamington Spa. Secondly, running behind the park there is a partnership path. Thirty years ago, through the auspices of Leamington Spa Rotary Club, the third link, a Telephone Box, was installed in the square at the side of the Town Hall. It was initially used as a working phone booth, but two years ago was converted to a facility for exchanging books. However, not content with these existing reminders, Brühl Town Council wished to have an even more visible and pronounced sign of the International co-operation between our two towns. The Town Hall is in Franziskanerhof and it was decided that a rectangular part of this square between the Cinema and a Cafe, which also included the site of the telephone box, should be renamed Leamington Spa Platz. 5 Therefore, on a bright and sunny Sunday morning, we all gathered in the appropriate part of the square for the inauguration and renaming ceremony. As we waited for the arrival of the two respective Mayors, we were entertained by a young lady student of acting and music, Lea Hachenberg, who sang a selection of International songs. Promptly, at 11.00 am the two Mayors arrived in an old London taxi sporting a Union Jack on its bonnet. Dieter Freytag, the Mayor of Brühl, outlined the history of the Town Hall, indicating that in 1800 it had been a Franciscan monastery, hence the name of the square. Later Napoleon converted it into a school and then in the 1980s it became the Town Hall. He recalled the words of the architect, who had looked upon Franziskanerhof as very much a place for people to meet and so it seemed an ideal location to assume the new name of Leamington Spa Platz and further emphasise our long standing friendship. Ann Morrison, our own Mayor, then spoke of her gratitude for the way this expression of friendship had been consolidated between the two towns and stated that it was indeed a proud moment for her to have taken part in the renaming ceremony. 6 The Official Twinning Dinner By Alan Wilkinson Breaking with tradition, the formal meal was not held at the Senioren-Wohnheim Haus Wetterstein but at a charming, if an unusually located restaurant, the Bruhler Wirtshaus am Schloss. I say oddly placed in that it is in fact part of the original main railway station in Brühl. It describes itself thus: The Brühler Bahnhof am Schloss was opened on 1844 on the occasion of the visit of the British Queen Victoria. The reception building was built according to JohannPeter Weyer's plans in the direct vicinity and in direct line of sight of the Augustusburg Palace. Due to the high visitor frequency, the Brühler station was expanded by a second railway line in 1869. The station building has been rebuilt several times since 1844. For example, the striking clock tower was removed in 1961 from the main building. The dining room itself still had the feel of a waiting room but that in no way detracted from enjoying a delightful evening. Again there was a break with the past, in that speeches were spaced through out the meal. In past years 7 they were duly delivered at the beginning of the evening, thus leaving the rest of the night free for eating and drinking. The menu chimed with the local cuisine: tomato soup, followed by pork medallions, salad and the biggest piece of Apfelstrudel I’ve ever seen. Quite how any German stays thin is beyond me! The mayor of Brühl, Dieter Freytag, gave a charming speech of welcome that was polite about Brexit without holding back on expressing the evident sadness that most Germans felt about the UK’s decision to leave the EU. Our own mayor, Ann Morrison, responded elegantly and in her speech she said: that she was not going to refer to Brexit. However, she went on to confirm that all of the Leamington Twinning Society members , were very committed to maintaining friendship with the whole of Europe, and particularly to our twin towns. As she very eloquently put it “There is always more that binds us than divides us”. And so say all of us! 8 Cochem: Quite a Castle By Gilon Fox On the Monday morning we set off for the Mosel valley by coach. The journey to Cochem was around one hour so not too long. We parked the coach in the town and two minibuses came from the castle to take us up to the top of the hill that the castle is on. When we arrived at the castle we had a few minutes to take photographs of the amazing views of the river and town, the suits of armour and the cannon. After a satisfying overdose of picture-taking, a lady came to take us on a guided tour. We learnt that the castle was originally built in the 11th century. When the troops of the Sun King (Louis XIV) invaded the Rhine and the Moselle area in 1688 they occupied the town and castle. In May 1689, the castle was set on fire, dug underneath and blown up. The French king’s troops almost completely destroyed the town as well. The castle remained in ruins until 1868, when a Berlin business man, Louis Ravené, bought the castle grounds and the ruins. He then rebuilt it completely. The picture shown is of the castle today. 9 Once we had looked around the castle the minibuses took us back down the hill to the coach. Some of us had a walk through the town. We got in the coach and had been driving for seven minutes when luckily we realised we had left Martha behind. We think she’d taken a wrong turning. So we went back and picked her up and set off for a second time to go to a vineyard. At the vineyard we were shown the barrels and how they made the wine. The red wine barrels were made of oak and the white wine barrels were of metal. Unfortunately most of the explanation was in German so I didn’t understand any of it. In fact, even the translation to English I didn’t understand! After having a look around we were taken to a balcony where delicious open sandwiches were served on long wooden platters and the adults did some wine tasting. The adults had a great time while we under-18-sadly-not-allowed-alcohol kids did a grape juice tasting instead. My favourite was the white. The adults flocked to buy wine afterwards while we played on the balcony. On the way back, you could hear the coach groaning under the weight of all the wine, or it might just have been my tummy after all those sandwiches. 10 Weingut Sonneneck By Bob MacQueen After an interesting trip southwards from Brühl to the valley of the Mosel, which included a fascinating visit to Cochem and its magnificent castle, we reached the much anticipated wine producers. The business is owned by the Schwarz Bleser family and they are all involved in the production of the wine. We were welcomed by the family and entered the production area where we saw the fermenting barrels. Some were indeed large oak barrels but the majority were the modern stainless steel vats. The vats were all empty as last year’s production had all been bottled ready for sale. All of the production is sold direct from the winery and delivered mainly in the local area. The majority of the wine produced is typical Mosel white wine using the Riesling and Silvana grapes. However recently they have produced some red wine using Pinot Noir grapes. Until the 1980s they were not permitted to produce red wine in order to protect production in other areas of Germany. The son is particularly keen to extend red wine production. The vineyard and the cellar have won awards annually from the Chamber of Agriculture of Rhineland-Palatinate, the German agricultural society and at the premium select wine challenge. In 2009 the Riesling Hochgewächs won a Gold Award and the Müdener 2008 Cabinet Riesling silver in the premium select wine challenge. All of which the family are justly proud of winning. 11 We continued our tour into the bottling plant where there were machines to fill the bottles, put the corks in and apply labels and caps. We then moved on the important part of the visit, the tasting! Everyone took their places at the long trestle tables that were set with two glasses per person. Large wooden platters were also placed on the table filled with open sandwiches on rye bread with toppings of ham, cured meats, black pudding, cheese, egg and pickles. The wines were served in very generous measures starting with a Rivaner Trocken (dry) which slipped down very nicely! This was followed by a series of four more white wines from Halbtrocken (semi dry) through to Lieblich (sweet) and a rosé. All were excellent and the accompanying sandwiches were consumed with great gusto. The final tasting was of the Red wines of which there were two, one Feinherb (semi dry) and one Troken (dry). These were much more contentious than the white wines and some people found them not to their taste, more for those of us who did like them! After the tasting and the extremely pleasing food we made our way to the shop to purchase bottles to take home. These were boxed up and labelled with name of the purchaser and taken by the company van to the tour bus. Luckily it seems that there was a good load capacity on the bus. A decision was made that a number of bottles should be purchased for the coming Garden Party and a vote taken to choose which one. The first wine to be tasted won, I think mainly because by that time sufficient wine had been imbibed and we couldn’t remember all the rest! 12 An Evening with Our Hosts By Carolyn Cox After a pleasant day spent visiting the castle in Cochem and the splendid rustic lunch and wine tasting in Muden we returned with our hosts to Brühl. Walking through the town on our walk back to our hosts’ house we purchased our essential items – hayfever relief, socks and a football; all items left behind at home again! Our host had prepared a supper of sausages, (at William’s request), and a beautiful potato salad (pictured); followed by a rhubarb meringue cake - which we think you should all try! Michael has translated the recipe for you as follows: Meringue topping for rhubarb cake. Whisk 4 egg whites with 1 pinch of sugar and salt until stiff. Add 180g sugar gradually Add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice a drop at a time. All-purpose dough mix 500g wholemeal flour 1 cube yeast 250g water ½ teaspoon sea salt 1 teaspoon honey or sugar 2 tablespoons oil Dissolve yeast in water and mix with the flour. Mix in the other ingredients and knead to a smooth dough. a) Put dough on a baking tray as for a pizza base. b) Leave the dough to rise for 20 – 30 minutes in a warm place. Knead and form into rolls or pretzel form. Baking time for a) and b) 20 minutes at 180C (preheated) 13 Visit to the Keramion Ceramic Museum By Peter Ralph After a fairly full day on the Monday it was nice to have a bit of a lie-in before venturing out on the Tuesday morning to visit the ceramic museum at Frenchen, about 30 minutes’ drive from Brühl. This museum is housed in a very futuristic building designed by Peter Neufert, a Cologne based architect, to house Dr Cremer’s collection of modern ceramic art. In 2002, the Cremer Collection and the Historical Ceramic Museum of Frenchen were merged into Foundation KERAMION. Due to the size of our group we were split into two parties for a conducted tour by our guide who was very knowledgeable and who spoke very good English. She told us how hard a potter’s life was and how dangerous it could be. For example during the firing process salt was added to the kiln. The heat of the kiln caused the salt to decompose into sodium and chlorine. The sodium added a glaze to the items being fired but the chlorine was often inhaled accidentally by the workers and resulted in serious health problems. In addition fires were only too frequent and that is one reason why potters had to move out of Cologne to Frenchen – to avoid burning down that wonderful city! It was wonderful to be able to browse round the museum and look at the amazing array of exhibits including the world famous collection of Bellamine jugs each of which bears the image of the face of a bearded man. In addition to the exhibits inside the building there were various exhibits outside including a display of earthenware drain pipes, reflecting the industry of the area and also a very friendly crocodile with a wonderful smile! Our thanks go to our guide on the day who was very well informed about the museum and who was obviously passionate about her subject and also, of course, to our friends from Brühl who organised the trip. 14 The Biggest Hole in Germany! By Sue Staddon After our visit to the pottery museum, the coach took us to the Hambach opencast mine. Our guide for the visit was Matthias Petran, who gave us lots of information in impeccable English. As we approached the mine, we could see the mountainous spoil tip, the waste material from mining which rises 200 metres above sea level. From the Terranova observation point we could view the vast expanse of the mine, which, we were told, is the widest and deepest hole in Germany! It currently covers about 34 square kilometres, and the bottom of the pit is 293 metres below sea level. We had a close-up view of some of the world’s biggest excavators, and we could appreciate the scale of them when we noticed a normal yellow earth-mover beside one - it looked like a dinky toy in comparison! These gigantic machines are 220 metres long, 96 metres high, and weigh 13,500 tons. Every day they can extract 240,000 tons of coal - enough to fill a football stadium 30 metres high. 15 Started in 1978, the mine yields 40 million tons of brown coal (lignite) a year. The coal is transported to nearby power stations on the purpose-built 22 kilometre long double-track Hambach railway. Before digging could begin, several villages had to be moved, including one which was 1,000 years old. An old oak forest also had to be removed to allow for expansion of the mine, arousing plenty of local and national opposition. There is still much concern in Germany about using coal for energy production as it causes serious air pollution. The carbon dioxide emissions must be controlled, which is a very expensive undertaking. Key to Germany's energy policies and politics is the ‘Energiewende’, meaning ‘energy transformation’. Germany intends to eliminate all use of nuclear power by 2022. Some nuclear plants have already been closed ahead of their intended retirement dates. It is expected that fossil fuels, wind power, solar power, biofuels, and energy conservation will be enough to replace the existing capacity from nuclear power. The policy includes phasing out nuclear power, and progressive replacement of fossil fuels by renewables. It is planned that mining in Hambach will end in 2035, after which the land will be restored and a big lake will be created. As the use of wind and solar power increases in Germany, it may be that the mine closes even before the planned date. After taking in the sights and much of the information, we all went to the Visitors’ Centre for lunch. We enjoyed delicious potato soup served with smoked salmon. At the end of the visit, Matthias praised us for being ‘calm and interested’! He is clearly more used to dealing with groups of school children! 16 Nan King Buffet By Amanda Stevens The final evening of our visit was spent in style at the Nan King Restaurant, Giesler Galerie, which is close to the centre of Brühl. Giesler Galerie is a shopping precinct on two levels, the ground floor consisting of shops, mainly chains including C & A which used to be such a familiar landmark in British high streets up until a couple of decades ago. The first floor is restaurant space including Nan King, a Chinese restaurant serving familiar Chinese cuisine but also offering the alternative of a substantial Mongolian Barbecue. The room reserved for us had two long tables with circular “turn table” ends. There was a lovely picture on display of the Great Wall of China to get us in to the Oriental mood. The place mats and table napkins were covered with orchids which are symbols of nobility, refinement and - of particular relevance to the occasion - friendship. We began by going up to help ourselves to a selection of Chinese starters such as noodle soup, spring rolls and sweet and sour chicken balls. Main dishes were somewhat more complicated and the selection process had to be explained patiently beforehand by Martina Zeyen who, with Matthais, was at hand to assist those who needed more help. You could either go for a Chinese option like a curry, sweet and sour pork, Chow Mein or Peking roasted duck, or the more unconventional Mongolian Barbecue. You could even have both! 17 A Mongolian Barbecue operates with the active participation of diners. First you are given a clothes peg with your unique number and colour. You then select your choice of raw meat or fish such as beef, chicken, chicken, lamb, pork, shrimp or tuna. Crocodile and kangaroo were also available, but no-one I spoke to had actually tried them, and they didn’t seem particularly Mongolian! You then choose your vegetables to accompany the meat or fish and hand the plate to the waiter with your clothes peg. The waiter proceeds to add a sauce of your choice and the plate is inserted in to a heavy revolving grill and returned to you when cooked. I went for a tuna steak with broccoli and mushrooms served with a ginger, lime and soy sauce and it was absolutely delicious. My neighbours all seemed to thoroughly enjoy their choices too. In theory you could have as many different combinations of menu options as you wanted, but mindful of the fact that we faced a lengthy coach journey back to Leamington the following day, most of us showed some restraint! There was a good selection of desserts including fruit salad, ice cream and cheesecake. Gail was particularly impressed by the ice cream and I by the cheesecake. The evening ended with speeches from John Mather and Michael Wellnitz. It was terrific to have so many youngsters at the restaurant including Aylin and Dilara Koc, daughters of my host, Stephanie Koc. The Nan King buffet was a wonderful finale to the trip so a sincere thanks to everyone who was involved with its organisation. 18 An Indian Meal at Sitar By Fiona Trewick As part of our new social programme eight of us met for a delicious Indian meal at the Sitar, Augusta Place on 29th of March. The menu had a wide range of dishes for us to try. During the meal we enjoyed getting to know each other better: finding our about what we do, what our interests are and experiences from the past. We also heard about John and Jenny’s holiday plans. Those heading off to Brühl the following week shared stories of past visits and tips for the those going for the first time. We were privileged to have advanced notification of the proposed programme for the visit. We started with a section of starters which were beautifully presented and tasted delicious. This was followed by a mixture of lamb, chicken and vegetable main course dishes served with rice and naan bread. After this several of us were tempted by a pudding of kulfi, a traditional indian ice-cream. We all left the restaurant feeling as if we couldn’t eat another thing. We all agreed that we would love to go there again. 19 LITS Officers and Contact Details Chairman - John Mather - 01926 851267 - jmather96@gmail.com Hon. Treasurer - Colin Beadle - 01926 512163 - colinbeadle14@gmail.com Membership Sec. - Simon Wheeler - 01926 744587 - wheelers_of_lspa@hotmail.com Sceaux Co-ordinator - Sue Staddon - 01926 315724 - suestaddon51@gmail.com Brühl Co-ordinator - Margaret Begg - 01926 423822 - mbegg@cbegg.com Gemini Editor and Webmaster - Tony Bass - 01926 883759 - tonybass3091@gmail.com Social Events Secretary - Jenny Mather - 01926 851267 - jenny.mather@hotmail.co.uk Committee Member - Mo Enright - 01926 422229 - moenright@virginmedia.com Ex Officio Member - Robert Nash - clerk@leamingtonspatowncouncil.gov.uk 20