BHC History

German Ambassador HE Andreas Michaelis undertook a two day programme in Bristol accompanied by his wife, Frau Heike Michaelis who is a teacher and by the German Consul General Hans-Guenther Loeffler. The delegation visited Airbus and then had a tour of the SS GB with German speaking head curator Joanna Mathers. The Ambassador learnt about the role of the German salvage team in rescuing the ship in the Falklands. This year is the 50th anniversary of the ship returning to Bristol. BHC Chair Ann Kennard and BAGS Secretary Jon Darch joined them for tea after the visit. The Ambassador had dinner with...

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On January 8th, Paul Seath, son of Edward Seath, had his 80th birthday.  Edward Seath was one of the Famous Five men who went to Hannover in 1947 to extend the hand of friendship to the Hannoverians, and thus started the now 72 year old friendship between the two cities.  Paul’s daughter Fiona and his wife Elfriede organised a party for him to include his many friends, especially from the music world, and kindly invited the Hannover Chair, Ann Kennard and her husband Tony, to come along as part of the family’s past.  It was a very enjoyable social occasion, with delicious food thrown in. ...

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Bristol Hannover Council chairperson Dr Ann Kennard recently received a message from the German Ambassador stating: “the President of the Federal Republic of Germany has decided to confer upon Dr Kennard the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.” This is a great honour for Ann and very much deserved given her tireless work on behalf of the twinning with Hannover and Anglo German relations in general. The award was made by Ambassador Peter Wittig at his residence in London on July 11th in the presence of 26 of Ann's family members and friends. The Ambassador gave...

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Hosted by the Lord Mayor, our final, major event of the year was held on 23rd November. Sixty-eight twinning friends and guests attended the 70th Anniversary Gala Dinner at the Mansion House for an evening of entertainment, good food and wine, excellent company and speeches to celebrate a full year of activities and events throughout 2017. It was great to welcome representatives from the German and French embassies from London – Charlotte Schwarzer who is the Head of Culture and Education at the German Embassy and Benoît le Dévédec, (French Language Attaché).

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Over thirty of Bristol-Hannover Council members and friends took part in a visit to Hannover to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the twinning. All participants covered their own costs and were hosted by the Hannover-Bristol Gesellschaft and Hannover City Council. The visit coincided with Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees’ official visit to Hannover. The Bristol Mayor undertook a gruelling programme of two 12 hour days with business meetings and a series of five key speeches including one at the Trade Fair grounds celebrating their 70th anniversary (founded by the British Army in 1947 with Hannover...

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18 of our friends from the Hannover-Bristol Association visited Bristol as part of our regular citizens’ exchanges, but this time it was a very special occasion: central to this visit was the great Zoo party to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the twinning, alongside the same anniversary of the link with Bordeaux – and both groups were accompanied by their respective Mayors Schostok and Juppé with their entourages.               Oberbürgermeister Schostok speaks at the Zoo, Mayors Rees and Juppé accompany.  The Hannoverians...

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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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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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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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