2011 visit to Bielefeld
2011 Trip to Bielefeld
Report of the visit.
Despite departure being delayed until Saturday, due to a cancelled flight, the visit was a great success. Many old friendships were rekindled and new ones made. The main meals were very tasty buffets in restaurants, one of the two days out was by train to Lemgo with lunch in a local restaurant. The other official day out was by coach to Essen and the Krupp family chateau, the light lunch of Erbsentopf was followed by an organ concert and a meal at Georgio’s Restaurant on return to Bielefeld. Another highlight in the official programme was a visit to Dr Oetker’s Factory Site in Bielefeld where we were taken on a tour of “Oetkerworld”, which showed the fascinating history of this family business and showed current day scale of their activities (1.6million pizzas made per day by this company).
Many of the hosts would like to come to Rochdale next year and we would love it if we could attract new members, especially if they could host one or two people from Bielefeld!
Some members of the group had a meeting with Herr Selonke in the Burgermeister’s Office. Herr Olaf Selonke is responsible for international affairs and 8 twin town relationships. Herr Selonke agreed that the formal contact with Rochdale was now re-established,We presented a letter and souvenir gift from Rochdale Mayor Cllr Alan Dodson for Oberbürgermeister Pit Clausen. Cllr James Gartside presently deputy Mayor, confirmed the date and Herr Selonke noted the date of next year’s Mayormaking in Rochdale; One of our members presented his interest in the establishment of a Penpals project between school(s) in Rochdale and Bielefeld.Herr Selonke was excited by the idea and promised to arrange to send details for one or more schools (Grundschulen) in Bielefeld.
Visit of Friends of Rochdale 2012
The visit dates are approximately: Arrival in Rochdale 7/8th September and depart 14/15th September. If you would like to be inolved, please contact us throught the contact details on this site.