Activities & Projects

Sporting exchanges have been an integral part of the relationship between Bristol and Hannover, and this anniversary year is no exception. All the events below are being supported financially by Bristol-Hannover Council. July 29th – Hannover Roller ‘Derby Dolls’ coming to Bristol! The return match (bout) (Bristol Roller Derby went to Hannover in 2014) between Hannover (http://dolls.rollerderby-hannover.de/)  and Bristol's B team (http://www.bristolrollerderby.com/) will now take place on Saturday 29th July at the Centre for Sport at the University of the West of England. This will...

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An exhibition of photographs documenting the history since 1947 of the city partnership between Bristol and Hannover is now on show at the Café at the CREATE Centre on Smeaton Road, BS1 6XN. It shows personalities and events from the very first visit by 5 Bristolians to Hannover, who went to help out when the message came to Bristol that in the terrible winter of 1947 the children of Hannover were unable to go to school because they did not have any shoes. Subsequent decades show great gatherings and events demonstrating the growing friendship between the two cities. The celebrations to date in this...

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Over 100 delegates from all over the UK and from counterpart cities in Germany packed into City Hall in Bristol to take part in the British German Association’s conference on twinning with Germany. Mayor Marvin Rees welcomed the delegates and spoke passionately about Bristol’s commitment to internationalism and in particular its links with Hannover. Mayor Herman from Hannover also spoke as part of a panel discussion on the evolving nature of twinning within the BREXIT context. Robert Nicholls chairman of the Hannover Bristol Gesellschaft also spoke and took part in workshops with other delegations....

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Following the Bristol team’s successful visit to Hannover, the return match or "bout" as it is called between Hannover’s roller derby team the Demolition Dolls (http:?//dolls.?rollerderby-hannover.?de/?) and Bristol's B team (http:?//www.?bristolrollerderby.?com/) will take place on Saturday 29th July at the Centre for Sport at the University of the West of England. This will be an afternoon event, the exact time is yet to be confirmed. More details in May but pencil it in your diaries!

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Dr Ann Kennard has been awarded the Lord Mayor’s International Medal for her many years work to strengthen the twinning with Hannover. Ann has been the chairperson of the Bristol Hannover Council (BHC) for over fifteen years and her dedicated and tireless efforts have played a vital role in developing the relationship. The ceremony took place at the Mansion House hosted by Lord Mayor Jeff Lovell and was part of a larger event where over 30 local people received Lord Mayor’s Medals for their outstanding contributions to their community and the city itself. Ann was accompanied by her husband...

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Christian Heppner, an archivist from the City of Hannover, gave us a fascinating insight into how the Hannover’s precious historical documents were preserved during the Second World War. Christian told us that proper cataloguing of Hannover’s history started with the first full-time archivist in 1889, when the archives were kept in the Kestner Museum. In 1940 when the first bombs fell near the museum, the archives were moved to Marienburg Castle, where they were kept for 2 years in a wine cellar and the kitchen, where they suffered from mould and mice! They were then moved to Soeder Castle,...

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BHC member Colin Evans gave a second talk in his series on art in the early 20th century, this time concentrating on the infamous exhibition put on by Hitler on ‘Degenerate Art’ (Entartete Kunst) in Munich in 1937. Hitler had rounded up and confiscated much of the Expressionist art in Germany’s museums, considered by the Nazi party to be degenerate and likely to insult and corrupt society, and exhibited it as a warning. In fact a million people saw the exhibition in the first 6 weeks, and overall 2 million in the four months of the exhibition. This was art which was avant-garde, whereas the Great...

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Friday 20th January sees the launch of our celebrations of 70 years of friendship between Bristol and Hannover (also Bordeaux) at M-Shed (below).  The Lord Mayor, Cllr. Jeff Lovell, will open the proceedings, and the programme includes performances in German and French from Bristol schoolchildren, stories of long-term friendships with both cities and contributions by the French and German Honorary Consuls, as well as the Chairs of Bristol-Hannover Council and the Association Bordeaux-Bristol.  Later in the year there will be other events: a concert of French and German music at Colston Hall,...

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The Hannover Love Tree, a work of art by Mansha who is Hannover’s foremost street artist and yarnbomber, has been installed by the BHC in the Central Library for a month. The tree displays messages of love from the people of Hannover to the people of Bristol which were collected during a special twin cities event in Hannover in the summer. The Love Tree was designed as part of this year’s Bristol Urban Paint Festival where Mansha and her assistant Mina were special guest artists. Their visit was financially supported by the BHC and Hannover City Council and special thanks must go to Frank and Lynne...

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At the time of writing, we are halfway through our programme of visits from Hannover this summer: the weekend of 18/19th July, a great reunion of the youth exchanges from 1965/6 took place, most of the participants not having met since that time! It took months to do the research and find as many as possible on both sides of the Channel, although some had emigrated much further afield e.g. to Australia! The spadework here was done by Ingrid Hüper in Hannover, and Lynne Evans and Jonathan Radnedge in Bristol. They came for the Harbour Festival weekend, so they were lucky with the weather… Not...

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