On Wednesday November 25th, four of us went to our twin District of Gottingen in Germany on a civic visit as part of the twinning arrangement we have with them.
Councillors Frances Roden, Barbara Tait, John Hudson and John Jones touched down at Hanover Airport shortly after mid-day, and were taken by taxi down the autobahn to Gottingen , arriving in time to unpack suitcases before the first engagement.
This was a dinner at a restaurant in the city, where we met the Chairwoman of their twinning association, its officer in charge of our visit, the Deputy Chief Executive, and leaders of some of the political parties.
Thursday morning came with a visit to the local College, in particular the teaching kitchens, where we saw several classes in progress, and we were able to talk to the lecturers as well as some of the English speaking students. One thing that did impress us was the class that was teaching young people in the skills of cooking and baking to give them a skill in their life.
We also went to the English lesson, meeting the English teacher and talking to several students, some of whom had been to Stroud on exchange visits, organised and supervised by Cllr Mrs Tait. We were given a tour of other parts of the college, including climbing to the top of the old tower, where we were able to look out over the rooftops of the city to the hills beyond.
Lunch was provided in the College restaurant, when we met College heads and Landkreis (Council) officers. The lunch was prepared by students who were attending a course on catering in readiness for obtaining employment in the catering industry, and served by other students who were learning skills for the food and leisure sector. The afternoon we had to ourselves, taking the opportunity to walk around the city centre and the Christmas Market.
Evening came with dinner at an Italian themed eating house, where we again met officers of the Landkreis, English teachers from the University, and Lewis Forward, an Englishman who has lived in Gottingen for well over 30 years, a larger than life person whom we were to see much more of during our visit.
Friday started with a look around the Kreishaus (our Ebley Mill), a welcome from the Chief Executive (Landrat) and then on to Duderstadt, where we were given a tour of a former Border crossing guardhouse which has been turned into a museum showing what life was like before East and West Germany became integrated. Our guide was very well informed, often referring to what could have been personal experiences under the old regimes. Duderstadt was situated on the border where East met West, and we saw remnants of the Border Fence, a massive construction of barbed wire, electrified fencing, mines, trigger-activated maiming devices and the like.
Afterwards, rather sombrely, we stopped off in Duderstadt and sat in the Gottingen Youth Project “Builders Wagon” a portacabin on wheels provided by the Council with Police support, where youngsters can hang out or meet with their friends, and the youth officer and a police officer have to deal with incidences of anti social behaviour.
After lunch in the town with the Youth Officer Philip Rosner and other members of the Landkreis, we visited the Otto Bock HealthCare Factory, where high-tech artificial limbs of all descriptions are researched and made. All components are made and assembled on site, including the machine tools for manufacture. We were given a history of the firm, and the whole visit to the factory was of great interest to Cllr Hudson, whose professional occupation takes in this type of work.
The highlight of the evening was when we were taken to the City Concert Hall to listen to a performance by the Gottingen Symphony Orchestra of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, which they performed after accompanying a wonderful performance of Beethoven's Emperor Concerto by Ewa Kopiec. Our friend from last night, Lewis Forward, played in the First violin section of the Orchestra.
Saturday dawned damp and cold, weatherwise the worst day of our stay. After breakfast, we were taken to see the Eco-village at Juhnde. This is a village of some 170 houses, and about three-quarters of them have signed up to the village power station scheme, whereby cow slurry from village farms is mixed with silage in a digester. There is also a bio-mass system where wood from the neighbouring forests and roadside hedgerows is brought in, chipped and fed into a boiler which generates power to turn a turbine to make electricity which they sell to the National Grid.
After lunch, we were given a guided tour of the nearby town of Hann Munden , an old historic town, untouched by the war, with a magnificent Town Hall, and many equally handsome buildings. The clock on the Town Hall is a wonderful masterpiece of clockwork, whereby two windows open on every hour and an array of animals and people slide out and come together after the chimes have sounded.
Outside in the street we were shown marks and dates on the wall of the building that marked the height that flood water came up to in previous centuries.
On the way back to Gottingen , we detoured to a landfill site, which was unfortunately closed, but where the Landkreis is building a waste reclamation and recycling centre, where waste will be converted into fuel to provide electricity. The plant is about 75% finished and is due to start up next year, but with no incineration. It is being funded by the EU, the German Government as well as the Landkreis, but as it was closed being a Saturday afternoon, we were unable to go in to look around.
Saturday evening was the semi-official Dinner, where both parties exchanged gifts and pleasantries.
After a very light breakfast on Sunday morning, we walked in bright sunshine for a meeting up once again with several of the people who had so warmly welcomed and looked after us. Then it was goodbye to most of those before we were escorted over the old Border to Hanstein Castle to view, apart from lovely views down the valleys, a wonderful exhibition of the Christmas Nativity Scenes, set in a room inside the castle warmed by two huge log fires.
We had a very informative and useful few days in Gottingen . We talked a lot, thought a lot, enjoyed each other's company and came away with much more to think about.
Having paid our own way to and from Germany, we came home feeling very satisfied.
