Scottish Children Learn About Scottish Culture
As a result of a trip to Scotland to their Partner region Falkirk last year, Schottland Vereinigung initiated and organised a Scottish music project for Odenwald Schools. During a return visit to the Burns Supper and with the support of the Odenwald Foundation and funding Association of the Schools, the Scottish teachers(from Falkirk), Susanne Bell and Gareth Lloyd offered a music workshop in two schools. Overall nearly 60 pupils in the Astrid-Lindgren school sang songs in English accompanied on Accordion, Guitar and Tin Whistle. Moreover, a Gaelic song was rehearsed, devoted to the favourite breakfast of Scottish children, Porridge! (their words but some children will argue about that). Also common to the Scottish tradition is dancing. With practice and rehearsal and the combination of song and dance, much joy was had by the children. By video-message from the Odenwald a 'Kartoffel-Rapp' a Potato Rap was demonstrated. Through Susanne and Gareth this will be shown to children in Falkirk.
The First District Deputy and School Department Head Oliver Grobeis and the Guests from Scotland were excited to get to know about culture and language in this lighthearted way and look forward to a continuation in other schools. (translation by Myra-please excuse, but you get the gist hopefully. Words in brackets are mine).
The Munster Express has been forwarded news from Rochester Town Twinning Association, who recently celebrated 25 years of twining with Waterford.
Mayor Duffy of Rochester led a large delegation to Ireland for anniversary events and a special golf fund raiser in Tramore Golf Club for local charities.
They were hosted in Waterford City Hall by Mayor Cllr. Mary O’Halloran.
Tom O’Connell has taken over as Chairman of the Association.
He succeeds Tom Kavanagh, who was a co-founder of the Association back 25 years ago.
Tom O’ Connell, who has relations in Cork and Galway, has been active in the Hibernian Association in America and also in organising the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which is even sometimes in the snow of the harsh American winter.
Sun or snow the parade would go is their saying for St. Patricks Day parade.
Rochester has recently linked up with a Chinese city called Xianyang
And is its 11th twinning in total.
Other cities twinned with Rochester include Rennes, in France and the largest city in Brittany, north west France. This is also a commercial, high tech and university hub of this part of Brittany.
The Wimborne/Ochsenfurt Twinning Association was founded in 1989, when Wimborne Minster Town Council agreed to the formal twinning of the two towns. Some visits have been made by specific groups e.g. Students, orchestral musicians, choirs, scouts and sportsmen, but the majority of the exchanges have been general visits to and from Ochsenfurt. A very successful twinning partnership has followed in the intervening years. It follows a similar visit by a delegation from Wurzburg City Council and the Community of the City in November 2014. The Friends of North Lanarkshire Twinning Association in Schweinfurt arranged the programme for the week-long holiday. An outing to Wurzburg with a guided tour of the Residence, and an evening.
Wurzburg of Bavaria in Germany, famous for wine, but with an Irish connection through the saints Kilian and Totnan, Irish saints who brought the Christian faith there in the 7th century, when Germany had lost Christianity and Ireland was in the period of saints and scholars. These saints were executed at the time for the faith and false witness against them.
Other cities with links to Rochester include Hamamatsu, Japan, Cracow of Poland the birth place of Late Pope John Paul 2nd,
Caltanissetta of Italy, Velikiy Novogorod of Russia, Rehovot, Israel, Puerto Plata of the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean, Bamako of Mali in Africa.
Wurzburg Twinning Association Convention
This reflects the great cultural diversity of Rochester and its immense international trade connections.
Xerox with a HQ in Rochester the famous international photocopy manufacturer is now majority owned by Fuji.
Kodak is another great Rochester firm connected to that industry, where there is a special Kodak museum of photography.
Bausch and Lomb is the major Waterford connection with the city over the past 25 years.
The Rochester delegation expressed great satisfaction with the visit to Waterford and felt that the twinning would continue and grow with the help of new participants.
Links have been established between Waterford Institute of Technology and a nursing college in Rochester.
Wurzburg Twinning Association
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