PRESS RELEASE
12.5.02
Friends make Friends with Friends
Seaford’s friendly twinning group, The Friends of Bönningstedt, have just returned from a successful twin-towns’ tour. In five packed days they visited two Parliaments, two Town Halls, two Churches and a Castle. And that didn’t include the social side of the programme!
Twenty one members flew, sailed, drove or took the train to Bönningstedt, just north of Hamburg. There they were met by their hosts and the town council, for a welcome meal in the municipal bar and restaurant. Friendships were renewed and new members made to feel at home.
There was an all-day tour of nearby Hamburg. An amusing guide showed off the city, its harbour, fine buildings and many parks. There was time to tour the City Hall, home of the regional Parliament. A typical Hamburg lunch was taken in the English-named “Old Commercial Rooms”.
That evening saw a reception with entertainment from 3 choirs, with the Town Mayor and Chairman of the local County Council making speeches of welcome, and the local MP in attendance. The County, Kreis Pinneburg, has been twinned with East Sussex since 1956. The Chairman’s speech did cause a ripple of surprise as it mentioned Pinneburg and East Sussex exchanging ideas over the incineration of waste, not a popular topic in Seaford!
Main speaker was the British Consul General for Northern Germany Douglas McAdams. He spoke on the value of twinning. The reply came from Friends of Bönningstedt Chairman, Liz Riley, in both English and German. She presented the Mayor in Bönningstedt, and his counterpart in Crivitz, with glasses commemorating the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.
As the visit marked the 20th anniversary of the Town Crier of Seaford, Peter White, being made “Stadtausrufer” of Bönningstedt, there was a presentation of a framed picture, and a book of historic photographs. Joked Burgermeister Peter Gehring: “ Now you are obliged to be our Town Crier for another 20 years!” In return Peter gave him a photograph of the Seven Sisters and a book of Sussex Recipes!
On the Sunday there was a special bi-lingual Church Service, accompanied by a local Brass Sextet. After this visitors and hosts had the day to themselves, to visit the locality and eat and drink local delicacies such as asparagus and lager with a dash of blackcurrant.
The Seaford visitors then spent two days in the former Eastern Germany, visiting one of Bönningstedt’s two other twin towns, Crivitz. They first visited there in 1990, before the border controls were swept away. On that occasion the Seaford Head School Concert Band became possibly the first British school band to play in the market square of an East German Town. Seafordians have been there regularly since, including 1992 when a red telephone box was installed to match the one in Bönningstedt.
First there was a tour of Schwerin, regional capital of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, where the Russian army had been in evidence in early visits. The fairy-tale Schwerin Castle contains their regional Parliament and the local MP was on hand to greet the visitors. The town itself is showing many signs of revitalisation, and the Trabant cars of 12 years ago are now entirely replaced by Volkswagen and Mercedes.
In Crivitz, after the official welcome by the Burgermeister Ulli Güssmann, and the Chairman of their County Council Frau Stein, visitors had 24 hours to enjoy the hospitality of another group of host families, visiting local lakes, churches and shops.
Before leaving Crivitz there was a brief visit to the Town Hall and new Museum where local wildlife, school slates, and the 2 billion mark notes of 1920’s inflation were on show side by side.
Friends from Bönningstedt and Crivitz have agreed to make their next visit to Seaford from 23 – 26 May 2003, to coincide with the Bank Holiday weekend Maritime Festival spanning Newhaven and Seaford. They are also planning to send tennis players to a tournament in Seaford in August, a group from their youth club in the autumn, and are enquiring about links with local choirs.
In 2004 the twentieth anniversary of the twinning will be in Bönningstedt.
Anyone interested in joining The Friends in this or their monthly social activities should contact the Membership Secretary on 013232 896346
Peter White, Publicity Officer.
Twin Town: Bönningstedt, Schleswig Holstein, Germany
Friendship Links: Crivitz, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany & Rachoni, Thassos, Greece
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