News

** In the same week as the Sommerfest at the German Embassy, Ann Kennard attended the latest meeting of the ELPTG, which was held at Europe House, Westminster, home to the European Parliament Liaison Office to the UK. The meeting was addressed by the German Ambassador Miguel Berger, Sandro Gozi MEP, Co-Chair EU-UK Parliamentary Party Assembly, Wera Hobhouse MP, Vice-Chair, All-Party Parliamentary Group on Europe, and representatives of local government, twinning partnerships etc. Carl Wright, Chair of ELPTG, in conversation with Wera Hobhouse The meeting discussed successful local...

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** Former Chair Ann Kennard was again invited to the annual Sommerfest der deutschen Sprache, a celebration by the German Embassy of the achievements of certain individuals who have made a special effort to widen interest in the German language. Apart from celebrating the teaching and learning of German in the UK, there was also a new German-British Friendship Award: Network Champion for German as part of the Ambassador’s Making the Case for German initiative. Ambassador Berger demonstrating the great variety covered by the Newcastle German language festival This was to widen the remit...

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**  The last of our talks on previous research topics was recently given by our Chair, Ian Turner, on his Ph.D research under Professor Alan Milward when at Manchester University.  The story of Volkswagen, a project prompted by Hitler in the 1930s as a ‘car for the masses’ in answer to Ford and GM in the USA, is a fascinating one.  It was developed by Ferdinand  Porsche, working with the Nazi ‘Kraft durch Freude’ movement, and the VW works was opened in 1939. Forced labour was used at the factory during the war to build various types of vehicle for the war effort and the works...

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**  On the weekend of the Bath-Bristol Premiership playoff semi-final, we had another great visit from our friends at Hannover’s Odin rugby teams.  They watched the match on the coach coming over (Bath won), then went to Winchester on Saturday for the ladies’ teams to play in a sevens tournament, where they were delighted to come fourth out of 10 teams. Combined men’s teams of Odin and North Bristol RFC On Sunday they played a match against their weekend hosts, North Bristol RFC, the latter winning, but a fine set of presentations followed the match. The Lord Mayor...

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**  The significance of the relationship between the UK and Germany, especially amid current events, was one of the themes reviewed by Baroness Ashton of Upholland in the annual parliamentary day lunch organised by the British German Association. Baroness Cathy Ashton, a former Leader of the House of Lords, had steered the Treaty of Lisbon through the House of Lords in 2008 and later served as the European Union's first High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Baroness Ashton addressing the BGA Parliamentary Day lunch Her address and responses to questions reviewed...

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** Thanks to all those who have already filled in their forms, transferred money and let us know their menu options for the upcoming visit. If you have not yet got around to doing it, there are a few days still left before the deadline on Monday, June 23 to submit your return to Lynne [Lynda.Evans1@btinternet.com]. Thanks for doing this as we needed numbers to secure venues and make transport arrangements. Please refer to the original email for the forms. IAN TURNER, Chair

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** A happy band of BHC members gathered at the Post Office Tavern in Westbury-on-Trym for the annual darts contest. Our pictures shows Tony Kennard throwing a winning 7 and a typical incident where we try to retrieve an errant dart from behind the stove! ###################    

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** On April 22 at Stoke Lodge Catherine Philips gave a talk on the Dunera Boys based on the research for her Masters 20 years ago. The background to the story was the fate of those enemy aliens who were arrested en masse at the outbreak of the Second World War and interned for fear they could prove to be spies or saboteurs. As the Germans occupied France in 1940 and the invasion of Britain was thought to be imminent, many of these aliens were shipped overseas to Canada or Australia. One of the most controversial cases was the group of aliens transported in the steamship Dunera (above)...

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** One evening recently at Stoke Lodge, Ann Kennard gave a very entertaining talk to an interested audience. Having had close ties with Germany and its border countries for many years she was delighted last year to be able to visit East Germany, the former GDR, at the invitation of Christine and Jürgen Heck, with whom she and Tony had stayed in Hannover. Despite her many years of connections with Germany through her studies and work she had not had the opportunity to visit East Germany on more than a couple of occasions. This she was keen to rectify and when the chance presented itself...

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** Margit Spitta, who died recently, was a long-time and very active member of the committee of our partner organisation, the Hannover-Bristol Gesellschaft.  Margit was a very lively and imaginative person, who spoke excellent English.  She ran the Gesellschaft’s conversation classes “Speaking English is Fun” for many years.  She and Ann Kennard discovered that they had both attended the Interpreting Institute at Heidelberg University, possibly at the same time.  Ann and Tony stayed several times in their house with its welcoming balcony, where we enjoyed many a glass of wine, and Margit’s...

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