Cheltenham Borough Council together with the Weihai Link, is exploring the possibility of a visit to Weihai next April 2012 and combining it with visits to Beijing and Shanghai/Xian or Hong Kong. The visit is open to anyone who is interested in visiting our twin town and the trip would be fully self-funded.
A get together will be held on Wednesday 19 October for all participants in the 60th anniversary visit to Göttingen that took place in August this summer. Bring photos and CDs to share and come along and meet up with friends again.
Youngsters who took part in the International Youth for Peace camp in Torun this summer will also do a short presentation.
Time : 7 for 7.30pm – 9pm
Venue : Committee Suite, Municipal Offices, Promenade
From Monday 17 to Tuesday 25 October, 30 youngsters from Göttingen will be in Cheltenham on the youth sport exchange. They are all staying with local families and will be participating in a programme of sporting activities and sight seeing excursions with trips to London, Gloucester, Clearwell caves and Oxford planned.
The quiz evening held at the Little Owl on 30 September raised a fantastic £201 for the Twinning Association to help young people participate in international events. Thanks to our challenging quiz master and everyone who came along and supported the event.
At the end of a busy week in Göttingen, the Mayor accompanied by the Twinning Officer made their way from Göttingen to Annecy for the annual fete du lac on Saturday 6 August. They were joined in Annecy by the council’s head of finance and healthy communities manager who made contacts and saw first hand the facilities Annecy has to offer, particularly in the area of sport.
On Monday 4 July, three students from Cheltenham started work in Annecy for four weeks on the summer work placement scheme organised between the two councils. Two girls worked with the parks and gardens team and one girl worked in the youth information office. The students stayed in a hostel along with other young people from Annecy’s twin towns and had the opportunity to join in the many events that took place in Annecy during their stay.
Then in August three young lads from Annecy came to Cheltenham to work for the council, two working in the parks and gardens division and one in integrated transport working on a cycling project. All benefited from their stay and enjoyed the experience of being in an English town.
Two girls from Gloucestershire participated in the Rencontres Europennees – a get together with language learning and sport and creative skills for youngsters aged 14-17 from all ofAnnecy’s twin towns. It took place in Annecy from 1-16 August.
Orchestra performing at the Notre Dame Church Annecy
The Gloucestershire Youth Orchestra performed 3 concerts in the Annecy region during the week 31 July to 6 August. The Mayor of Cheltenham and 3 other members of the Cheltenham delegation visiting Annecy for the Fete du Lac were privileged to be present at their third concert in Annecy at the Notre Dame Church. The concert was superb – the church was packed and the orchestra made the four of us from Cheltenham very proud to be from Gloucestershire.
Delegations from Annecy’s other twin towns were also present at the concert and so impressed were the delegation from Bayreuth, Germany (home of Wagner) that they would like to invite the GYO to take part in a young musicians festival there next year.
The 45 members of GYO finished their memorable week by seeing the fantastic firework display atAnnecy’s fete du lac.
The 60th anniversary visit to Göttingen from 29 July to 5 August was a great success and enjoyed by over 110 people. The programme, organisation and hospitality received in Göttingen was all of its usual high standard, host families were very generous and welcoming and many new friends were made.
Twinning group on visit to Hann Munden
Officers of the council worked alongside their colleagues for a couple of days gaining an insight into Göttingen’s parking, transport and urban development programmes as well as visiting their biogas plant and discussing waste management. The exchange of young apprentices between the two towns based on funding from an EU programme was also discussed and positively agreed upon, as well as discussions on forthcoming twinning events for 2012, including Göttingen’s participation in the Olympic Torch relay stopover inCheltenham.
The Cheltenham art club took over some 30 paintings and had a successful exhibition with the Göttingen Art club, which was opened by the mayors of the towns and Councillor Garth Barnes was honoured with the Göttingen Medal of Honour for his services to the partnership for over 35 years and was awarded his medal during welcome reception.
Some comments have been posted on the German Club website – see link below – and more pictures and comments will be published very shortly on the soon to be launched new twinning association website.
On 17 July 38 students and 2 leaders from Weihai arrived in Cheltenham for 2 weeks, to attend Gloucestershire college’s international summer school. They took part in English lessons, sporting and sightseeing activities and stayed with local families. A Mayor’s reception was held for them on Wednesday 20 July at 3.30 pm in the Council Chamber.
Cheltenham International Partnerships 