Blog Archives

The 2013 Bristol Harbour Festival was held from 26-28th July and it was in the leafy, tranquil Cathedral Walk (between Bristol Cathedral and Cafe Gusto by the river Avon) that Bristol Hannover Council set up their stall alongside fellow Twinning Associations and charities on Saturday July 27th. Throughout the day, Bristol Hannover Council challenged passers-by to find Hannover on a giant map of Germany and test their German vocab with their now well-known “How’s your German...? word game, where participants try to match German words to their English counterparts. With sweet German additions...

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In mid-July we had a bevy of visitors from Hannover: first to arrive were a group of 15 photo-journalists led by Prof. Rolf Nobel of the Technical University in Hannover. Bristol was the latest subject of their project 'Lumix' which takes them to a different city every two years, where they photograph many aspects of life there, and then show a selection of 100+ images in an exhibition back in Hannover. A recent city so exhibited was Bangkok. The group had a briefing here at City Hall, attended the Gay Pride rally in Queen Square, were received by the Lord Mayor at the Mansion House, attended...

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BHC Chair, Ann Kennard, partnered Ursula Lindenberg, translator and text editor for Ecology and Social Science, in giving a combined presentation recently on Twinning and Social Learning at a conference hosted by the Schumacher Institute. Part of Bristol's Big Green Week from 15-23rd June, the conference was entitled "A New Social Contract for Sustainability" and took place on 20-21st June at the Arnolfini. About 50 delegates heard presentations and took part in workshops on various aspects of sustainability, such as the Challenges and Strategies of a Post-Growth Society, The Implications of Sustainable...

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Bristol Hannover Council Chair Ann Kennard, Honorary Secretary Gerard Owen and BITA Coordinator Alix Hughes attended the “Doing Business in Germany” Conference at Leigh Court Bristol on 18th June 2013. Organised by UK Trade & Investment, this Conference was well attended by representatives from all kinds of local businesses, all of them eager to find out how they could forge trade links with Germany. The recent establishment of a direct flight between Bristol and its twin-city Hannover will certainly facilitate greater travel and greater cooperation between British and German businesses....

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The first week of June 2013 was sunny spells and sunny times for Bristol-Hannover Council. We were visited by members of the Hannover-Bristol Gesellschaft (our counterpart association in Hannover), who enjoyed not only beautiful weather, but also a “new look” tour of the city some of them know very well. When planning the visit, we had resolved to take them to places they were unlikely to have seen before in order to show them different parts of our city. The visit began with a journey to the past as we ventured down to the Bristol Record Office for a tour. There we were given exclusive...

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Members of Bristol-Hannover Council committee had tea on June 1st with a group of Hannover Seniors who meet regularly to read English books under the leadership of Tricia Martin, an English woman who used to work for the British Army and now lives permanently in Hannover. They visit different cities in the UK every couple of years, and were delighted to get to know Hannover's partner city. They are keen to take part in our visit to Hannover in May 2014, the year of the 300th anniversary of the Hannoverian accession to the English throne. We look forward to meeting them again!

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On May 14th 2013, BHC Chair Dr Ann Kennard and BITA Co-ordinator Alix Hughes spent an hour with Hannover’s Green Party Mayor Frau Regine Kramarek. All three were invited to the Mansion House for discussions with the Lord Mayor Councillor Peter Main and Bristol City Council’s International Officer Stephen Brown. Mayor Kramarek was in Bristol as part of Hannover City Council’s official delegation on board the inaugural flight between the two twin cities. She was keen to develop further exchanges and collaborative projects between the two cities, particularly around culture and the green...

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Bristol Hannover Council members took to Clifton village for this year’s Annual Dinner as they enjoyed a delicious meal at “the Albion” pub. Committee, members, friends and families gathered in the pub’s private function room for an evening of jollity, good food and reminiscences. Discussion also focussed on the future as BHC Chair Dr Ann Kennard reminded those attending that the visit of our Hannoverian friends is not far away and there are still places available for certain activities. The evening concluded with a vote of thanks from Vice-Chair and Former Lady Mayoress Councillor Brenda...

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BHC Chair, Ann Kennard, attended the Lord Mayor’s Annual Civic Service on March 17th in the Lord Mayor’s Chapel on College Green.  This is a service of celebration of the people of Bristol, to which the Lord Mayor invites those individuals he has met during his year of office who, he feels, have made a contribution to the life of the city.  BHC is very honoured to have been invited, showing the Lord Mayor’s appreciation of the contribution of the twinnings to Bristol’s civic life.

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It is with sadness that we inform members of the death of Guy Driffield at the age of 88. Guy was a long-time Treasurer of Bristol-Hannover Council, and always supported our activities. He was born in Cologne on 25th April 1924 and after schooling in Germany, the family fled to England at the outbreak of the Second World War. Guy studied German and French at Oxford and subsequently became a language teacher. He taught at Colston's Boys School, and later became Head of Languages at St. Thomas More's. Ann Kennard and Alix Hughes attended his funeral on 13th March at Clifton Cathedral, at which his widow...

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