News

** After a gap of many years since the last rugby exchange between Hannover and Bristol, finally SV Odin made it – and how: with 75 players and partners, including 28 aged between 15 and 16 plus a few players from other clubs. The original exchange, 30 years ago, was organised between Horst Josch of Odin, present on this tour, and his old friend David Perkins of QEH, who sadly died in September 2022 and so did not see the resumption of the exchange which was so dear to him. The SV Odin tour bus Arriving overnight in a double-decker bus on Saturday, March 25 and led by Director of Rugby...

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** An impressive turnout of BHC members gathered at Stoke Lodge on March 29 to hear a fascinating talk by Neil Taylor on the German Democratic Republic. Neil is a well-known travel writer and tour guide. He visited the GDR and other Communist Bloc countries frequently in the 1970s and 1980s. His talk described how the GDR evolved from the Soviet Zone of Occupation in Germany and was led throughout much of its existence by a group of German Communists who had lived in exile in Moscow and were disciples of Stalin. Neil traced the main developments in GDR history starting with the 1953 uprising....

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** Life in the GDR was the common thread running through this short film season. Politics could have been a heavy and intrusive presence in the telling of these retrospective stories but their very humanity shines through in spite of the inevitable pressures. Good Bye Lenin! was about a woman who, having had a stroke and resulting coma, is allowed, when she wakes up after the Wall comes down, to believe that the ‘normal’ GDR life is still going on, in case the changes cause her to have a relapse. Goodbye Lenin - floating past the window . . . from the film To achieve this, her children...

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** A group of BHIC members travelled up to London on March 25 to see the Royal Academy exhibition of four modernist painters - Paula Modersohn-Becker, Käthe Kollwitz, Gabriele Münter and Marianne Werefkin. The four were women artists, mainly German or living in Germany in the first half of the 20th century. We were fortunate to have a pre-briefing from Colin Evans before the event which helped us all to place modernism in its historical context. The paintings were all interesting and worth seeing. Gabriele Münter, Portrait of Anna Roslund, 1917 Inevitably some artists made more...

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** An enthusiastic group of members and friends met to celebrate Rosenmontag, final celebrations before the privations of Lent, in the old style on February 20 at the Black Swan in Westbury-on-Trym. Wearing funny hats, and in one case a wig, listening to and joining in singing Karnevalsmusik, we all had a very enjoyable time (see pictures). The plus this year was being able to watch the Karneval processions in both Köln and Düsseldorf on satellite TV, which made it all much more real and colourful, and we are grateful to the pub staff for setting it up for us. ###################  

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** England may have been knocked out in the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup in December but BHC committee member Jonathan Keir Radnedge came home from Qatar as a winner. He was among a number of veteran sports journalists presented with a replica of the World Cup trophy (picture above)  in acknowledgement of the 15 finals tournaments at which he has reported – ever since England’s triumph over West Germany in 1966. The ceremony in Doha was organised by world football federation FIFA and the international sports press association (AIPS) and the presentations were undertaken by the 2002...

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** Early December saw about 20 members and friends enjoy our traditional Christmas Market meal of Wurst, Sauerkraut and ‘Pommes’ (instead of Kartoffelsalat this time) washed down with a couple of beakers of lovely Glühwein. We were delighted this year to welcome the Lord Lieutenant, Peaches Golding, who said she had greatly enjoyed sharing the whole anniversary year with us. A great way to start off the Christmas season. #######    

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** Ambassador Miguel Berger only in post in London since May 2022, made one of his first regional visits to Bristol, to help us celebrate our 75th anniversary along with the 40th anniversary of the Bristol Anglo-German Society. First Herr Berger visited Airbus, which is an international company with important operations in Germany. He then proceeded into Bristol to City Hall, where he had a series of discussions. As Mayor Marvin Rees was in Egypt for COP27, he met Deputy Mayor Asher Craig, which was a serendipitous chance, since she had led the official anniversary visit to Hannover in August...

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** We have sadly noted a number of deaths among our members and friends in the last few months, who will have been known to many of our members: David Perkins, our stalwart supporter of the rugby exchange with Hannover's Odin Club over many years, died in September 2022. Several of us went to his funeral, which was attended by hundreds of his friends, who sang Guide us oh thy Great Redeemer with great gusto. Richard Wong, long-time leader of the Beaufort Badminton Club exchange with Hannover, died in November 2022.  We attended his memorial service, where a tribute from the Hannover badminton...

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** Our return visit to Hannover did not start off auspiciously, with half of our group of 12, on arriving at Heathrow, finding their direct flight to Hannover had been cancelled. Many frustrating hours later, they were able to fly to Düsseldorf and thence by train to Hannover, albeit everyone was exhausted! But they did not miss the first event of the exciting programme which our friends in Hannover had set up for us. On Friday morning, we all gathered in the Palais Garten behind the Wilhelm Busch Museum in Herrenhausen to witness the planting of a Peace Tree, a ginkgo sapling which had been...

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