Historic Cinque Port twinned with German Town Bonningstedt
Original website This is the original Friends of Bonningstedt website but its content is now a historic record. The new site with up-to-the-minute details can be accessed by going to
http://www.seaford-sussex.co.uk/fob/index.html
History
Seaford, historic former Cinque Port; and once a Rotten Borough returning two M. P's. to Parliament, including three men who became Prime Minister; twinned in 1984 with Bonningstedt. Bonningstedt is a farming town, and dormitory town for Hamburg, in Kreis Pinneburg, a Kreis which is itself twinned with East Sussex. Pinneburg is in Schleswig Holstein, between Hamburg and Denmark.
The Twinning
The twinning was a result of Bonningstedt's quest to find a twin within East Sussex. Prime movers were the then Burgermeister Werner Bornholdt, and Heinz Oertel. From Seaford the enthusiasm came from the town's Silver Band; and the efforts of the late John Dyer, of Andy Anderson, and Peter White the Town Crier who became the "Stadtausrufer" of Bonningstedt in 1982.
The Friends
The Friends of Bonningstedt are a friendly group who hold monthly social gatherings e.g. quiz night, bingo, traditional pub skittles, visit Bonningstedt every other year, and welcome visitors from their twin town in the intervening years. They also have friendship links with Bonnningstedt's other twins, Crivitz in Mecklenburg Vorpommern in the former East Germany, and Rachoni, Thassos in Greece.
Welcome!
New members are welcomed. They do not have to live in Seaford, neither do they have to be able to speak German or to host visitors, but they must support the ideals of international co-operation and twinning, and enjoy the company of others!
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