Danbury and District
Twinning Association
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Danbury and District |
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Altenglan Germany
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For pictures of Altenglan |
Twinned in 1982 |
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In May 1982 we twinned with our friends in Altenglan, Germany, our objective being the promotion and fostering of friendship between our own members and with the people of Altenglan. We are now in our 23rd year of a very successful town twinning. Every year we arrange visits to and from Altenglan on the basis that host families exchange visits and accommodate each other mutually, and have reached quickly a situation where most of our families are on a friendly visiting and corresponding basis with their twinned family in Altenglan. Usually about 30/40 members visit Altenglan in August every second year, and the same number come to Danbury in June of the intervening years. A visit to Altenglan has just taken place in August of 2005. Where and what is Altenglan you may ask? Well, Altenglan is a small town in the Rhein Pfalz set in rolling wooded and farming countryside with a group of smaller villages round about (much as we have here) making it comparable in population with our district. The nearest large town is Kaiserslautern about 12 miles away which like Chelmsford is quite a centre with large shops, shopping precincts, theatre, municipal centre, churches and industries. Altenglan has its own identity with its own Burgermeister, charming houses, large new school, shops and guesthouses, clean streets, and friendly people especially distinguished for their traditional hospitality and music. From Danbury to Altenglan via Dover/Calais is about as far away as to Perth in Scotland (and is mainly motorway) and whilst we usually hire a coach to take a party quite a few members go in their own cars and we can always help with practical advice as to best routes and what to see. On our organised visits we have been through Luxembourg, via Trier, or through France via Reims, to the Vineyards of the Moselle and Nahe and the Wine cellars of Berkastel; to Heidelberg, on a River Rhine trip; to Kusel, Kaiserslautern, Idar Oberstein (precious stone centre), Bingen and Rudesheim, to Zweibrücken and the Parkbräu brewery in Pirmasens, so you can see that Altenglan is a very useful centre for exploring that part of Germany. Of course many English people do not speak German and many German people do not speak English but we have found that this is no problem or barrier at all as there is always someone on hand to help a conversation along or to translate or write letters and a friendly smile goes a long way. As a result of our visits many of our members and Altenglan friends have become much more fluent in each other's languages and there are lots of opportunities in this direction. So, if you would like to travel with friends and really get to know other people in their own homes, there is no more pleasant and happy way to do it than with our Twinning Association. In 1990 Altenglan and Danbury joined with our French twin town of Croissy-sur-Seine to form a triangular partnership, with ceremonies taking place in Altenglan. |
