Blog Archives

On Friday 13th November, in a ceremony led by the German Ambassador, Dr Peter Ammon, Tim Illston was installed as Honorary German Consul for Bristol.  The ceremony was held in Bristol at the offices of the law firm Burges Salmon, where Tim is a partner.  Dr Ammon thanked the outgoing Consul, Ann Newby, for her work over many years and welcomed Tim Illston to his new role.  Tim, a member of Bristol-Hannover Council committee, responded with a comprehensive account of the firms, German and British, who were already doing business and others who were in a good position to do so.  Tim hopes to support...

---

Erster Bürgermeister Thomas Hermann (SPD party) attended the City Leaders Summit as part of the European Green Capital 2015 series of events. He was accompanied by his partner Margitta Schürmann, who was a local SPD party councillor in her own right. The Mayor contributed to the discussions as well as giving an interview to camera. He sat with Mayor Ferguson for one of the informal dinners and struck up a good relationship, discussing Jazz as both are fans. It was Mayor Hermann’s first visit to Bristol for ten years as he had been part of the Trade Union and Socialist exchange which ran between...

---

As part of Bristol’s year as European Green Capital, the Hannover Urban Futures Network group spent four days in the city on a Green Capital study visit. They met with a range of Bristol City Council officers and also NGOs from the sustainability sector. They had a great time and went home buzzing with ideas for future collaborations.                  

---

                Anne von Thadden-Schmidt the outgoing chair of the Hannover Bristol Gesellschaft (HBG) has been awarded the Lord Mayor’s International Medal. Pictured from left to right are Helga Wawra (HBG deputy chair), Lord Mayor Clare Campion-Smith, Anne von Thadden-Schmidt and Dr Ann Kennard, chair of the Bristol Hannover Council. Anne has been chair of the HBG for over ten years and has been involved for many years before that as interpreter and active member. For the first time she admitted she was speechless! The...

---

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...

---

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...

---

Hannover’s top female urban artist Mansha and her assistant Mine created the Love Tree at this summer’s UPFest. Bringing lots of messages of love from the people of Hannover, Bristolians also wrote messages of love on the tree for the people of Hannover which Mansha took back with her. Hundreds of Bristol Hannover Council postcards were given out and everyone was fascinated by the installation. A big thanks to Lynne and Frank for hosting Mansha and Mine and to John for sourcing the tree!                                             Mansha...

---

** Once upon a time . . . when the youth exchanges between teenagers from Bristol and Hannover were regular events, groups from the two cities decided they enjoyed the adventure so much they should repeat it. It took 50 years to organise but the reunion was finally shared and enjoyed immensely over the weekend of July 17-19 when eight members the Hannover Class of ’65 and ’66 flew to Bristol. Waiting to meet and greet them were 13 of their old friends from Bristol for a 50th anniversary reunion which owed an enormous amount to some remarkable police work in both sides of the reunion. Two...

---

Spring and early summer has been a busy time for events in Bristol: Twenty or so members gathered for a delicious meal at the Town House bar and restaurant in Whiteladies Road. We were ensconced in a comfortable private room upstairs and could do some catching up with people who had not been around for a while, but also discuss the very busy summer ahead – see next news item! Below a pic of the Town House event.               The next event was our participation in the Twinning Zone of the Harbour Festival 2015 – a great day with...

---

Hannover’s finest yarn bomber, Mansha, has been invited by the BHC to take part in this year’s Urban Paint Festival (UPFest) on 25 and 26 July. Mansha is based in Hannover but is originally from Berlin and is half Iranian. She is a DJ and has been a Music TV host. She still does a lot of urban art working with top German artists such as Loomit, Daim, Mode2, Darco, Can2 and Bomber. She became the first artist in Hannover to use yarn-bombing techniques in 2006 and has also developed her art further by using recycled materials such as wood, stone, cans and bottles. She has been commissioned to yarn-bomb...

---