• Contact
  • About
DONATE
NEWSLETTER SIGN UP
  • Login
East Anglia Bylines
  • HOME
  • News
    • Brexit
    • Health
    • Education
    • World
  • Politics
    • Local government
    • Justice
    • Activism
  • Politics Blog
  • Climate
    • Environment
  • Lifestyle
    • Community
    • Culture
    • History
    • Humour
    • Property
  • Business
    • Economics
    • Finance
    • Transport
    • Farming
  • ANGLIA
    • East Anglia
    • Bedfordshire
    • Cambridgeshire
    • Essex
    • Hertfordshire
    • Norfolk
    • Suffolk
  • Series
No Result
View All Result
  • HOME
  • News
    • Brexit
    • Health
    • Education
    • World
  • Politics
    • Local government
    • Justice
    • Activism
  • Politics Blog
  • Climate
    • Environment
  • Lifestyle
    • Community
    • Culture
    • History
    • Humour
    • Property
  • Business
    • Economics
    • Finance
    • Transport
    • Farming
  • ANGLIA
    • East Anglia
    • Bedfordshire
    • Cambridgeshire
    • Essex
    • Hertfordshire
    • Norfolk
    • Suffolk
  • Series
No Result
View All Result
East Anglia Bylines

Forty(-one) years of European friendship

On Sunday, over fifty people gathered to celebrate the friendship between Norwich and its German twin city, Koblenz.

Sarah PateybySarah Patey
September 22, 2021
in Anglia, Culture, Norfolk, World
Reading Time: 5 mins
A A
The celebration cake

The cake to celebrate forty(-one) years of friendship between Norwich and Koblenz. Photo: Sarah Patey

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

On Sunday, over fifty people gathered at the Park Farm Hotel in Hethersett for a special dinner, postponed since 2020 by the pandemic. It was to celebrate the friendship between Norwich and its German twin city, Koblenz. Since Roman times Koblenz has stood where the Moselle, flowing down from the vineyards that famously line its banks, joins the mighty Rhine.

View of Koblenz twinned with Norwich.
View of Koblenz, twinned with Norwich.
The association’s logo features the pepperpot towers, on the left, of the Liebfrauenkirche, and the spire of Norwich’s cathedral.
Photo: W. Bulach, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

We were celebrating the founding in 1980 of the Norfolk and Norwich Koblenz Friendship Association. It was a joyful occasion, under the ever-smiling eyes of the association’s president, Waltraud Jarrold.

Building friendship over a lifetime

Waltraud recalled the beginnings of the association at Sewell Barn Theatre, in 1980. Over the years since, regular visits between Norfolk and Koblenz have built strong friendships. I’m a new member, but I pick up echoes of long relationships: news of Koblenz friends getting married, or welcoming the arrival of children or grandchildren; celebrations of special events; concern for someone who is ill, grief for a friend lost. Some visitors stay in hotels, others have stayed in each other’s homes. The visits include day trips together, and have helped to build up a deep respect for both hosts’ and guests’ way of life and culture.

Waltraud cuts the cake
Waltraud cuts the cake. Photo: Sarah Patey

Partnerships and cooperation

Over the years, the twinning has extended into organisations and institutions, such as Norwich Rotary Club with Koblenz Ehrenbreitstein; and Norwich Philharmonic Society with the Musikinstitut Koblenz. There is a long history of training exchanges with the Koblenz Chamber of Skilled Trades, Handwerkskammer Koblenz.

Norwich is also twinned with Rouen in France and Novi Sad in Serbia. One remarkable fruit of this European network of friendships has been the Triorca Orchestra, a youth orchestra that includes members from all three countries. It was set up and sustained thanks to EU funding, which has done so much to foster friendship between young people and open their eyes to new horizons. The Triorca Facebook page features a moving tribute from Leila Hooton, 2019 winner of the Norfolk Young Musician Competition. She was speaking at a 2019 concert in Brussels on the value of such international cooperation (no Facebook account needed to view the clip).

Tiorca orchestra play on Norfolk Day in 2018
Tiorca orchestra play on Norfolk Day in 2018. Photo: Tiorca Orchestra

Looking forward to building supportive friendships

Waltraud is emphatic: ‘We always look forward, build for the future.’ There is great hope that the mutual twin city visits will be able to resume before too long. I have some catching up to do, but I have sampled the warmth of the relationship in a couple of online meetings between members in various churches in Koblenz and church members from the diocese of Norwich. At our July meeting, the appalling flooding along the Ahr was a nearby, recent and raw memory for our friends in Koblenz. The Handwerkskammer is offering committed support. True to the association’s name, it was good to reach out hands in supportive friendship through our online meetings. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to meet them ‘IRL’ (in real life).


Tags: CommunityTwinning
Previous Post

Byelection news in the East

Next Post

Is East Anglia Going Wild?

Sarah Patey

Sarah Patey

Sarah lives in Norwich, where she works as a freelance editor and translator. She and her husband own and run a student hall of residence, Heathfield Student Community Home. Sarah is a member of the EAB editorial team.

Related Posts

View of a series of pylons marching across a valley in England
Anglia

Hope sparks for end of pylon controversy

byEast Anglia Bylines
December 7, 2023
Farmer workers in norfolk best over harvesting root crops
East Anglia

When rural Norfolk fought back

byStephen McNair
December 6, 2023
Jess showing the detail of the ship graffiti
Community

Our favourite stories: The cathedral walls have stories to tell

byCelina Błędowskaand1 others
December 3, 2023
Climate crisis. Houses on the cliff edge at Hemsby
Climate

“Sorry, you are on your own!” climate crisis hits Norfolk

byStephen McNair
December 3, 2023
Clive Lewis MP addressing Norwich Labour Party campaign event
News

In a shock move, Labour has lost control in Norwich

byEast Anglia Bylines
November 30, 2023
Next Post
Rewilding meadows in Essex

Is East Anglia Going Wild?

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR CROWDFUNDER

Subscribe to our newsletters
CHOOSE YOUR NEWS
Follow us on social media
CHOOSE YOUR PLATFORMS
Download our app
ALL OF BYLINES IN ONE PLACE
Subscribe to our gazette
CONTRIBUTE TO OUR SUSTAINABILITY
Make a monthly or one-off donation
DONATE NOW
Help us with our hosting costs
SIGN UP TO SITEGROUND
We are always looking for citizen journalists
WRITE FOR US
Volunteer as an editor, in a technical role, or on social media
VOLUNTEER FOR US
Something else?
GET IN TOUCH
Previous slide
Next slide

LATEST

Astro turf dumped in a big pile

Astroturf pitch plans refused in ‘test case’ over health fears

December 8, 2023
Two people approach passport control at the UK Border Control, Heathrow.

Who’s afraid of freedom of movement?

December 8, 2023
A statue on a tomb of a woman leaning on the tomb, weeping.

Grief Awareness Week: resources for support and healing

December 7, 2023
View of a series of pylons marching across a valley in England

Hope sparks for end of pylon controversy

December 7, 2023
People demonstrating against poverty. One banner says "Fight poverty, not the poor."

We can eliminate poverty: but we have decided not to

December 7, 2023
Grape harvest, from the book of hours of the Duke of Berry. Some workers are bending over harvesting, other are chatting, one is tasting the grapes.

Cambridge – Town and Gown unto death

December 6, 2023

MOST READ

Climate crisis. Houses on the cliff edge at Hemsby

“Sorry, you are on your own!” climate crisis hits Norfolk

December 3, 2023
PM Rishi Sunak standing at the dispatch box during Prime Ministers Questions

Pecksniff: Is Sunak losing his marbles?

December 2, 2023
Hundreds of rioters push police back. Dozens of police are wearing helmets, hi-viz jackets and riot gear.

Polish lessons for the UK: stopping the far right

December 1, 2023
A hand holding a large bundle of £50 notes

EU to regulate political ads as UK welcomes ‘dark money’

December 4, 2023

Tags

Activism Anglian Water Brexit Business Cartoons Climate Community Conservatives COP26 Crime Democracy Economics Economy Elections Environment EU Farming Government Health History International Women's Day Labour Law Letters Local elections 2023 National Grid Net zero NHS Norwich Opinion Our place in Europe Pandemic Party politics Pecksniff Politics Poverty Sewage Social care Tax Trade Ukraine VAWG Welfare Wildlife Women
East Anglia Bylines

We are a not-for-profit citizen journalism publication. Our aim is to publish well-written, fact-based articles and opinion pieces on subjects that are of interest to people in East Anglia and beyond.

East Anglia Bylines is a trading brand of Bylines Network Limited, which is a partner organisation to Byline Times.

Learn more about us

No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • Authors
  • Complaints
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Letters
  • Privacy
  • Network Map
  • Network RSS Feeds
  • Submission Guidelines

© 2023 East Anglia Bylines. Powerful Citizen Journalism

No Result
View All Result
  • HOME
  • News
    • Brexit
    • Health
    • Education
    • World
  • Politics
    • Local government
    • Justice
    • Activism
  • Politics Blog
  • Climate
    • Environment
  • Lifestyle
    • Community
    • Culture
    • History
    • Humour
    • Property
  • Business
    • Economics
    • Finance
    • Transport
    • Farming
  • ANGLIA
    • East Anglia
    • Bedfordshire
    • Cambridgeshire
    • Essex
    • Hertfordshire
    • Norfolk
    • Suffolk
  • Series

Newsletter sign up

DONATE

© 2023 East Anglia Bylines. Powerful Citizen Journalism

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In