** Our biennial visit this year took place in September, and as luck would have it, our visit coincided with that of Bristol’s Ariel Rowing Club, who were visiting their partner rowers, Linden Ruderverein.
Thus we were all treated to a splendid first morning in brilliant sunshine in an unusual and beautiful place, namely the Berggarten, part of the wonderful Herrenhausen Gardens. We split into two groups, and were guided by the Gardens’ experts.
We then proceeded to the grandiose Hodlersaal of Hannover’s Rathaus, where all of us were received by our good friend, Mayor Thomas Hermann. Thomas gave a warm and eloquent speech praising the work of the two cities in staying in partnership for 77 years and looking forward to many more years of friendship.
In the afternoon there was a visit to the World of Kitchen, a museum devoted to the history of kitchen equipment, and in the evening another great barbecue hosted by Petra and Martin in their lovely garden – this has become a fixture in our visits and we are very grateful to our hosts for all their hard work in making this such an enjoyable occasion.
On Saturday we had the first of two train rides, this one to the Steinhuder Meer, a lovely lake with cafés and exhibitions. The sun was shining and the highlight was a trip in an old sailing boat to the tiny island of Wilhelmstein, where it was possible to go into the former fortress of the Schaumburg princes.
On Sunday another train ride took us to Braunschweig, partner city of Bristol’s neighbour Bath, and the Bath Chair Judy Spencer duly turned up to accompany us on our visit. We had a splendid guided tour of the old city and ended up in the Abbey café behind the old Rathaus, where Bath’s partner organisation, the Deutsch-Englische Gesellschaft, after a kind awarding of gifts from Braunschweig to visiting guests in the Great Hall, invited us for Kaffee und Kuchen.
Landtag landing
On Monday we had a guided tour of the beautiful Leineschloss, home to the regional government of Lower Saxony, the Landtag.
This was followed by a working lunch shared by our two committees at Meiers Lebenslust, a cosy restaurant opposite Hannover’s Neues Rathaus. We discussed the possible programme for our Hannover friends’ visit to Bristol in August 2025 and Bristol’s new twinning officer, Zoe Gibbons, informed us of plans afoot between the two city councils, of which we will hear more in the coming months.
Subsequently we were treated to a presentation in the nearby Kestner Museum of member Michael Bloom’s great-uncle’s coin collection. Our friend Katharina Rünger, spokesperson for the museum’s directorate, had kindly arranged for the museum to be opened specially for us for this event.
On our final evening, a large number of members of both associations enjoyed a delightful buffet meal at the Werkhof restaurant, speeches were made, gifts were exchanged and everyone is now looking forward to meeting again in August 2025.
ANN KENNARD / October 2024