2016
Wöllstein visits Great Barford
On Thursday 26th May 2016 our Wöllstein visitors arrived very late after a marathon journey. There was a lorry drivers' strike in France which delayed them. This caused them to miss their ferry and they had to wait for the next one. As a result their coach was caught up in the rush hour traffic round London resulting in further delay. Luckily they brought the sunshine with them - for four whole days.
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This year we welcomed 44 visitors from Wöllstein to Great Barford. These included 2 teachers with a group of 11 teenage school children who all travelled to Great Barford on the coach. The school arranged their own accommodation and programme of activities for their pupils. They were dropped off on the way at their hotel in Stevenage. Our own weary Partnership travellers eventually arrived in Great Barford at 21:15 and were taken home by their hosts.
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On Saturday 28th there was the option of a visit to a local vineyard at Old Warden for a wine tasting experience. The vineyard was originally part of the Cistercian Warden Abbey founded in 1136. The modern vineyard was replanted by the Whitbread family - the brewers of Whitbread beer. The current owners, who are the Bedfordshire Rural Communities Charity, took the vineyard over in 2010. The manager and a volunteer showed us round the vineyard. The German viticulturists in our group had some interesting discussions with our tour guide.
After dinner the evening's entertainment commenced at 8.30pm with a musical interlude by The Alma Singers who sang:-
Andrew Lloyd Webber Medley Somewhere out there Fields of Gold Londonderry Air Flying Free Barcarolle Chicago. On Sunday 29th May we left Great Barford by coach, for a trip to Hampton Court Palace. We went via Stevenage in order to collect the school children and their teachers. At the Palace the school children went off with their teachers and the rest of us had a choice of two guides. One group had a tour with a German speaking guide, the other had an English speaking guide. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and entertained us royally with tales of the many ghosts and apparitions reported in the palace as well as it's history. Archbishop Thomas Wolsey built the earliest part of the Palace. He "gave" the palace to King Henry VIII who extended it considerably and used it as a hunting lodge. After the tour we had the option of taking a packed lunch to eat in the gardens or to eat at one of the many food outlets in or near the Palace. One especially interesting place to eat was in the Old Bakery where they still used the original ovens and hotplates (all now gas fired) to prepare the food and bake the bread. |
On Friday 27th at 13:30 our coach left Great Barford Village Hall took us to Priory Marina which was the boarding point for the river cruiser "John Bunyan". We enjoyed a delightful trip up the river back to Great Barford and were entertained by the interesting commentary provided along the way. At one point one of our female Wöllstein friends kindly translated the instructions on how to use the WC in the lady's toilet to some of our Partnership guests. At arrival at Great Barford we were treated to a lovely view of Great Barford Bridge as seen from the river. We sailed underneath it to our landing point at The Anchor public house. Some of our people took advantage of the opportunity provided.
The Official Partnership Evening began promptly at 6.00pm for the speeches and official formalities to be completed. The meal was served at 7.00. We were treated to a hog roast with salads and various accompaniments. This was followed by a choice of gateau and a good selection of cheeses, bread and savoury biscuits. Many thanks to Bill Wood who provided the catering for the weekend and his Bowls Club helpers Maz and Steve Lyon. The Alma Singers were followed by the Nine Men's Morris troupe of Morris dancers who performed two dances for us accompanied by their fiddler. In the first dance they each carried a kerchief which they waved about as they danced. They camped it up tremendously much to the amusement of us all. In the second dance they carried sticks. They appeared to be in imminent danger of hitting each other as they each banged their sticks against the sticks held by various other dancers in the pattern of the dance. On Monday 30th May The partnership had an invitation to visit to the Bowls Club from 10.30 am to try their hand at bowling helped by Great Barford bowler volunteers. Partnership members participated enthusiastically and a good time was had by all. Afterwards we all enjoyed the excellent light refreshments provided by the Bowls Club. Many thanks to all those Bowls Club members who made the visit so enjoyable. Monday 30th May was "Games Night" at Great Barford Village Hall which started at the earlier time of 3pm. In addition to the traditional events: darts, carpet bowls and bar skittles, we also had a competition for the champion Rodeo Bull rider. It was a mechanical bull skillfully controlled by his operator who flicked the bull to throw people off. Soft landings were had by all. The Eddie Petri Trophy was won by Great Barford. Medals were awarded to every participant. Dinner was the ever popular fish and chips freshly cooked in a van parked outside. This was accompanied by a selection of cheeses and left over pork from the hog roast . |
On Tuesday 31st May our guests departed in their coach. We were sorry to see them leave but were delighted to be invited to visit them in Wöllstein again next May.