Headlines

This page gives some of the forthcoming activities and most recent news about the Association and its members. Full articles appear in due course in the Newsletter. If you have news items for this page, please send them to the Webmaster

2012 promises to be a busy year for Twinners with several groups travelling between Kidderminster and Husum for visits to the twin towns.

The annual Crocus Festival in Husum on 23rd March will be attended by civic representatives from Kidderminster including the Carnival Queen, Jessica Homans, and her mother, escorted by some Carnival committee members. Also in Husum from 22nd to 26th March will be a group of 12 drawn from several different Kidderminster churches - their ninth organised trip, but the first visit at crocus time instead of their usual Autumn exchange. King Charles 1 School students will again be hosting guests from Theodor Storm Schule in April and making a return trip to Husum in autumn whilst Holy Trinity International School expect their first visitors from Husum this year. A group of gardeners and a golf team will be in Husum in June. While members of Husum's orchestra are in Kidderminster in July, some KD8 Scouts will be joining their Husum exchange partners at a jamboree in Denmark. Husum quilters will be staying with Forest Quilter hosts in autumn.

The quilt exhibition previously on show in Husum's Town hall will be in the upper gallery of Kidderminster library throughout June, along with Twinning displays in the first floor glass cases and entrance foyer.

Any group or individual without a link to Husum and its people but wishing to find out more, or to visit our twin town (including travelling with some of the organised groups), should contact Hilary Boyle (01562 68535)

Seven gardening enthusiasts from Husum arrived in Kidderminster on Friday, September 9 as guests of Kidderminster Horticultural Society, and immediately found themselves involved in a spot of very public gardening.

On their way from Birmingham Airport they stopped off at Broadwaters Park to assist in the planting of hundreds of crocus corms (yes, they are not strictly bulbs). The crocuses are of the same species as those that cover several acres of Husum’s Castle park, which are a major tourist attraction in the Spring every year and form a living backcloth to the town’s annual Krokusfest.

The planting at Broadwaters is the first stage of a plan by the Kidderminster-Husum Twinning Association, to introduce the purple crocuses to several areas of Kidderminster over the coming months and years. The Association is very grateful to a number of Kidderminster members of the County Council who have been able to secure financial backing for the project, to Wyre Forest District Council’s Parks staff for their co-operation, and to Alan Breen from Parks who brought his very shiny spade for the occasion.

After several months of planning, and a change of date so that the Oldies visit would correspond with the 375th anniversary of the granting of Kidderminster’s Charter, 14 Husumers arrived in a warm and sunny Kidderminster on Sunday 31st July at the start of a hectic four-day visit.

The morning of Monday 1st August saw all the Oldies plus three more, who had travelled independently to Kidderminster, and numerous hosts, meeting on the bridge outside Baxter Church for a walk around the town with local historian Melvyn Thompson.  Melvyn’s route took us past numerous places of interest in the town including the Husum bridge, Kidderminster’s Town Hall, Brinton’s Offices and the fountain at the bottom of Comberton Hill, which was donated to the town by the Brinton family, a look inside the empty Woodward Grosvenor building in Green Street which will soon be home to Kidderminster’s Carpet Museum, and then passed by Caldwell Castle before taking to the canal towpath and finishing at Weaver’s Wharf by Brintons’ Bell and the famous Bull almost two hours later.

The afternoon saw everyone in Bewdley for a look around the town before many of them took a short walk in Wyre Forest. That evening a welcome reception hosted by the Association took place in the King Charles Room at which our Chairman Terry Garbett and our President the Mayor of Kidderminster, Councillor Anne Hingley, who had kindly provided the drinks, welcomed the Oldies to Kidderminster. Rainer Maaβ, the outgoing Husum Bürgermeister, duly responded. It was so nice to see so many friends old and new, including three additional Charter Trustees and Alan Parsons, the mayor’s consort, at this event which was enjoyed by all.

Tuesday morning saw 31 of us take a step back into the past at the Black Country Living Museum for a day’s visit. Following a short introductory talk about the site given to us by Police Constable World, in which he warned us to beware of thieves, pickpockets and vagabonds, everyone was then free to enjoy the sights and sounds of a hundred years ago before taking part in a lesson at St James’s school where unfortunately Georg Weβler was judged by the schoolmaster to have misbehaved and duly received several strokes of the infamous cane. Fortunately for the rest of us the lesson finished soon after with Eva Maaβ being selected to ring the school bell.

Everyone then dispersed far and wide for lunch, many partaking of the Museum’s famous Fish and Chips, before meeting up again for a trip on an electrically powered narrow boat into the manmade limestone caverns deep under Dudley before returning to Kidderminster later to recover from the exertions of the day.

Wednesday morning at 10:00am saw the Oldies and hosts gather at the Kidderminster Town station of the Severn Valley Railway for a day out on the railway. “Freedom of the Line” tickets had been purchased in advance for everyone so that they could break their journeys whenever they fancied enabling them to take in the delights of Arley village with its beautiful Arboretum, the Engine House at Highley and of course the historic town of Bridgnorth. It came as a surprise to many of the Oldies when they came upon the Church of St. Mary Magdalen near to the ruins of Bridgnorth Castle; although built by Thomas Telford in 1794 the church bears an uncanny resemblance to the Marienkirche in Husum’s Market Place.

Even inside, the church is very similar except for the stained glass windows at the far end of the chancel which were added by the Victorians in the late 19th century. The day passed by rapidly and it was soon time for everyone to return to their hosts in Kidderminster.

While everyone was enjoying themselves on the railway a further nine official visitors from Husum arrived in Kidderminster, as guests of the town, to take part in the Charter Anniversary celebrations the following day, making a grand total of 26 visitors from Husum in Kidderminster altogether.

Thursday morning duly arrived and right on cue the weather changed from warm sunshine to rain as everyone gathered outside the Town Hall for the Anniversary celebrations, prompting some of the Husum officials to make a quick dash to the Weaver’s Wharf shops via the Husum Bridge to purchase umbrellas.

At 10:45am, as a growing crowd of people waited patiently in the rain outside the Town Hall, a trumpet was heard to sound and a party of children in period costume, followed by two King’s Messengers on horseback, made their way to the Town Hall steps. The Messengers then presented a proclamation regarding the granting of Kidderminster’s Town Charter by King Charles I to our Vice-President Charles Talbot in his capacity as the Town Clerk of Kidderminster, who, having read it handed it to our President Councillor Anne Hingley, the Mayor of Kidderminster, who also studied the document and in her turn handed it to the Town Crier who informed everyone in the assembled crowd of its contents. The Messengers, followed by the children, then made their way along Vicar Street for all to see while everyone else entered the Town Hall for refreshments and a Medieval Fair in the Corn Exchange.

After an afternoon free of organised activities, the Oldies, official visitors from Husum, Charter Trustees, hosts and invited friends gathered at the Valley Suite on the Severn Valley Railway station for a farewell party. Presentations were made by Rainer Maaβ to Anne Hingley of a framed print of Husum 375 years ago while Rainer himself received a piece of cut glass from Charles Talbot in recognition of his services to twinning between the two towns during his tenure as Husum’s Bürgermeister.

The evening ended with an impromptu singalong led by Charles Talbot on guitar supported by the Oldies from Husum and Kidderminster, and the Husumers left town the next morning still tired but very happy after an eventful visit.

Jerry Mayfield

September 9-12 – visit to Kidderminster  by Husum Gardeners for the Horticultural Autumn Show at the Ramada Hotel on September 10 and 11. The Association will have a display in the main marquee and helpers are welcome

Wednesday, September 14 - Association Committee meeting - 7.30 pm, King Charles Room, Kidderminster Town Hall

September 17 - Twinning display (2.30 - 5pm) at 375th Charter Anniversary period re-enactment in St. Mary's Church grounds

September 21 - Charles Talbot's 80th birthday party at La Brasserie, Kidderminster (£15 for meal and glass of wine; contact Ken and Pat Garbett, 01562 754168)

September 21-28 – schools exchange visit – King Charles I to Theodor-Storm-Schule, Husum

October 7 - Worcestershire Foum of Twinning Associations Quiz Night at Bromsgrove

October 14 - Quiz Night at 7.30 pm at The Valley Suite, King and Castle, Kidderminster (tickets £7.50 inc. refreshments, from Ken and Pat Garbett, 01562 754168)

The July 2011 Newsletter has now been published on the "Newsletters" page. We hope that you will find it interesting.

The Committee met on May 25, and had encouraging reports from a number of groups, as well as news of progress with other groups that are planning to become involved. The rate of renewal of memberships is a bit disappointing, and it was agreed that a reminder be sent out with the July Newsletter. Plans were made for the visit of the Oldies in August; a number of Husum councillors will be among the group.

The plan to plant crocuses in the grassed areas in Husum Way is progressing, and it's also been suggested that we plant others in Broadwaters Park. A Quiz Night will be held on October 14 at the Valley Suite, Severn Valley Railway, and other Twinning Associations will be invited to send teams. The Worcestershire Forum of Twinning Associations will hold its Quiz Night in Bromsgrove on the previous Friday, and the Association will be represented then.

The Committee will meet again on September 14.