Work experience in Cheltenham

Work place students 2014Two work placement students from Annecy were in Cheltenham for four weeks on a work placement exchange scheme organised between the two councils.  Raphaelle Sleurs worked with the Customer Services and Visitors team at The Wilson Art Gallery and Museum and Audrey Flour did her experience with Cheltenham Borough Homes Community team based at Hesters Way Resource centre.  Both students stayed with host families to further improve their linguistic skills and experience English life and they had the opportunity to meet the Mayor and Mayoress.

Ribston Hall High school welcomes IGS school Göttingen

Twenty six girls from Ribston Hall High School together with their 26 Göttingen exchange partners visited Cheltenham in July and were welcomed by the mayor on Wednesday 9 July at a reception in the Municipal Offices.

Ribston hall exch 2014

This was the return visit for the Göttingen pupils – the Ribston girls having been to Göttingen in November. All were staying with their English partners and the group had a full programme of events and activities. Some of the Göttingen sixth form students were spending the week doing work placements to gain valuable experience of working in a different country and one of the boys had a placement with the Customer Services Team at The Wilson Art Gallery and Museum.

Annecy and Weihai students at summer school in Cheltenham

Cheltenham welcomed 48 pupils and 4 leaders from Annecy from 6-27 July who were attending the international summer school at Gloucestershire College for three weeks and stayed with local families, as well as 34 pupils and 3 leaders from Weihai, also at GlosCol’s summer school for two weeks from 13-27 July.  Both groups were welcomed by the Mayor at receptions on 9 and 23 July, and the Weihai group were invited to a garden party arranged by the Weihai Link.

WW1 Twinning Weekend

ParlourFrom 4-7 July 3 representatives from Göttingen and 5 from Annecy were in Cheltenham for the weekend to commemorate WW1.  The delegations, led by the Deputy Mayors of each town, attended the WW1 Centenary concert at the Town Hall as part of the Music Festival and visited a WW1 exhibition situated in Cheltenham’s first WW1 VA hospital in Lansdown Road.   At a reception at The Wilson, a video was launched depicting WW1 monuments from Cheltenham and its twin towns, which has been put together with help from Cheltenham Camera Club. 

Reception WilsonThere was also a presentation by the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps based in Innsworth on their international work highlighting the joint working of allied forces on military projects. German, French and English military officers were present which prompted interesting discussions between our twinning visitors.  

The twinning delegations also enjoyed the fun of the Montpellier fiesta, went on a Cotswolds tour and had time to go shopping and dining in Cheltenham.  The weekend also provided the opportunity for discussions on future projects some continuing on the theme of WW1, with exhibitions and photo competitions, but also talks on next year’s Big Party visit to Göttingen and the 60th anniversary of the twinning link with Annecy in 2016.

Cheltenham students in Annecy

 emplois été Québec Cheltenham 2014Ben West of Dean Close School and Ruth Miller from Balcarras School are currently on work placements in Annecy as part of a scheme between the two councils.  They started work on 2 July and will be there for one month.  Ben is working with the parks and gardens team and Ruth will be giving advice to young students arriving in Annecy as part of her role in youth information office.  Both Ruth and Ben have just completed their A level French and are planning to go to university to study the language further.

Royal Visit to Göttingen

100_6102On 4 June, HRH The Duke of York was in Göttingen as part of a visit to Lower Saxony to celebrate 300 years of royal ties between UK and Germany.  Prince Andrew visited the university and met the Mayor of Göttingen Wolfgang Meyer in the Altes Rathaus.  Herr Meyer in his speech made reference to his visit to Cheltenham for the Olympic torch relay and seeing the Prince’s niece,  (then) Zara Phillips, carry the torch to light the Olympic cauldron at Cheltenham racecourse.  HRH was suitably amused!!

Heinrich Boll School Visit

Visit Heinrich Boll school 2014 x2A group of 6 pupils and 2 teachers from the Heinrich Boll special needs school in Göttingen came to Cheltenham from 15-20 May and had a reception with the Mayor in the Parlour.   Last year the group visited the National Star College, this year they were visiting a school in Evesham.  The group were staying in Cheltenham and had a programme of activities organised.

Jazz Festival Link

The President of the Annecy Jazz Club visited the Cheltenham  Jazz Festival and met with the Festival organiser to discuss the staging of a jazz festival in Annecy with Jamie Cullum performing.  The President was very impressed with the set up, organisation and content of the Jazz festival and went back to Annecy with many ideas for their first jazz festival in 2015.  Jamie Cullum’s agents had been approached and were aware of the request and the link between the two towns.

Twin Towns and Music

Jonathan McNaught from Cheltenham performed in a Jazz Concert in Göttingen on Friday 4 April with two other musicians from Göttingen, for an evening entitled ‘A musical bridge between partner towns’. In 2009 Jonathan won the Gloucestershire Young Musician of the Year and has taken part in piano concerts as part of the Cheltenham Music Festival. Jonathan loves both jazz and classical music and plays the piano and violin. In 2013 aged 20, he founded the Gloucestershire Symphony Orchestra for students. The Twinning Association were pleased to support Jonathan from the twinning fund, as he represented Cheltenham at this popular musical event.