Bristol Hannover Council

Students of English from the Goetheschule in Hannover recently visited their counterparts in Cotham School, who are studying German. They and their hosts were warmly welcomed by the Lord Mayor at the Mansion House, and enjoyed tea and biscuits in this lovely building. This is the 17th year of their exchange, which started in the run-up to the 50th anniversary of the Bristol-Hannover city partnership in 1997. In 1995/6 a group of VI formers travelled with what was then called the ‘adult exchange’ – the exchange of citizens which still takes place in alternate years between the two cities, now called the ‘citizens’ exchange’. This group had won the Young Enterprise award, and were given free places on the coach travelling to Hannover, accompanied by their Young Enterprise adviser, a banker. The students stayed in a hostel and went on the local trips with the adult visitors, such as one to the Weser river and the Fuerstenberg china factory. The then Chairs of Bristol-Hannover Council (Ken Morling) and Hannover-Bristol Gesellschaft (Horst Josch), both still members of their respective organisations, organised the planning meetings, along with Dietrich Doelitzsch, then Head of English at the Goetheschule, now Vice-Chair of the Gesellschaft. The schools still visit each other in both directions every year, Cotham School being one of the few schools remaining in Bristol which has a lively German curriculum.

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