Visit of Delegation from Braunfels, Germany

I was pleased to welcome a delegation from our twin town of Braunfels on Saturday morning of 21 July. Braunfels, located near to Wetzlar, some 30 miles (50 kilometres) north of Franfurt-au-Main in the county (land) of Hessen, is our oldest twin town. It was twinned in 1963/64 and it was John Marshall who signed the twinning document as Mayor of Newbury, and a copy is on display outside the Council Chamber.

Many of the delegation from Braunfels had not visited before and they were looking forward to going to the Newbury Races, but due to the torrential rain and flooding, the race meeting, together with a champagne reception, was cancelled. A revised programme had been drawn up by Garry Poulson, the Chairman of the T T A, and some were off around the town while others were considering going to Winchester.

One of the longest serving members of the T T A is Frank Graham. He was a Councillor at the time of the twinning and former Mayor and he gave a speech on the history and noted that one of the Braunfels' delegates was at the original ceremony in 1963/64. It is fair to say that his speech was full of reminiscences! My speech was noticeably shorter because he had stolen some of my thunder.

All the German delegates spoke excellent English, so I resisted the temptation to speak to them in my fractured German. One of the delegates, whom I believe was a lawyer, thanked us for our hospitality and presented an engraved Braunfels glass plate. It is now on display in the Mayor's Parlour.

I bid the delegates farewell and hoped that they would have an enjoyable visit. I have no doubts I will see several of them at the Twin Town reunion at Bagnols in November.