If any Twinners would like to attend the Musikfrühling festival in Biberach on 7 May, please contact Joy Phillips for more information. The event is of course provisional at this stage and Ryanair’s Memmingen schedule appears to be subject to change, so travel arrangements will need to be kept under review.

All Biberach’s twinning partners are invited and it will be a special opportunity for us to celebrate  the 30th anniversary of Biberach’s partnership with Tendring District and their 40th anniversary with Asti in the evening, after the market and other entertainmnet during the day.

This should be a splendid event and hopefully a chance to refresh our twinning ties.

This excellent course is generously provided free of charge for anyone in the Tendring area  aged 17-20 who wants to improve their German language skills.

It is an intensive language course held from 21 to 28 July (21st and  28th are travel dates). Travel to Memmingen (for Biberach) is fairly cheap if the tickets are bought in advance on Ryanair.

Hosts will usually be available to provide transport and accommodation.

Please read all about the experience  of our first student last year here (click to link).

Contact Joy Phillips (TTA Chairman) for further information if you are interested.

Biberach Market 8th-16th December 2018

Happy new year to all our readers!

We had another great year at the Biberach Christmas Market, fundraising, renewing friendships and strengthening the bonds of twinning. We had some very interesting and enjoyable conversations with visitors to the stall, all keen to speak to us about life “at home” and to share their hopes and best wishes for the future.

Helen and I were on the Tendring stall over the last weekend from Thursday to Sunday (13-16^th December) . This meant having the pleasure of offering interesting last-minute Christmas shopping to many of our customers and the disappointment of sending others away empty-handed when no more lemon curd, chocolate orange or whiskey marmalade could be found.  

The weather was pretty bracing each day, with a nice dusting of snow on Sunday morning. Luckily for us we had the steaming Gluhwein stall next to us and the heat of the Dampfnudel bakery opposite.

Christa, Stephan and Marianne were our attentive and very generous hosts, keeping us warm, well fed and safely transported to and fro. Other members of Biberach town twinning were as always ready to cover the stall whenever no-one from Tendring was available, and our grateful thanks go out to them all.

Notice on door handle: “Please do not close this door!”

English Week in Biberach is a misnomer! Such is their enthusiasm for all things English that it ran from Friday, 5th October and finishes Tuesday 6th November.

Adrian and I went for the first weekend when Adrian came back home and I stayed until Wednesday 17th. Sue and Keith also came for the first weekend and went home on Tuesday. Mary and Sharon came over for the second weekend. 

Our time in Biberach was made all the nicer as the weather was superb. We were officially welcomed by Norbert Zeidler, the mayor of Biberach on Friday 5th and then we dine together. On Saturday our market stand was manned by the Germans as we didn’t take the van over – we sold our products well and has helped our finances. The Saturday evening was a wonderful ‘English’ meal followed by pipers and dancing. On Sunday evening my hostess Anne and I went to the pub to participate in the English Quiz. It was so full that not all those who wanted to could get in. Thank you to Rachael for her wonderful questions.

Monday evening there was an English film on at the town’s cinema – it was called ‘Venom’ and probably not a film I would go to see normally, I did however thoroughly enjoy it. It’s good sometimes to step outside our comfort zones and do something we wouldn’t normally do!  Club night on the Saturday evening was enjoyed by Mary and Sharon – I wasn’t able to go as I didn’t have transport, but I do hear on good authority that it was a really good evening.   Sunday was our English cream tea afternoon with some very able dancers showing us their skills. Unfortunately the weather was beautiful and more people went out walking and bike-riding. Consequently there were only about 30 of us. Of course that meant that some could have extra scones! Although not well-attended we had a lovely time watching the dancers -both professional and not and drinking English tea.

Another Monday evening and another film: this time it was ‘A Star is Born’ and was about the history of Lady Gaga’s rise to fame. We enjoyed this – especially with our popcorn and coke! Tuesday was my last activity and was Romeo and Juliet performed by and English-speaking company of actors. This was well-attended especially by the young students in Biberach. My goodness! It was done in Shakespeare’s English – the youngsters didn’t make a sound, but many of the adults found it difficult to follow. 

I had a wonderful time in Biberach – English Weeks can stay! Thank you to all of you who worked so hard to make each and every experience memorable and a pleasure to attend.

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A number of enthusiastic TTA volunteers again made sure that our Christmas market stall in snowy Biberach was a great success. Whilst the festivities may seem a long time ago, wintry weather is with us again this February so a few pictures from the market do not seem quite so out of place.

This was my first visit to Biberach in winter, for the final weekend only and all too brief really. Helen and I stayed with Christa and Stephan whilst Sue and Keith were with Petra. As well as enjoying great hospitality and friendship from our hosts and other Biberach twinning supporters, we had a lot of fun on the stalls with our friends from Valence and Asti. We even fitted in a brief visit to Ulm.

Memorable sights for me were the life-sized nativity stalls with live sheep and donkeys, giant steaming dampfnudel served on paper plates with plum and vanilla sauce, and at least thirty varieties of mulled wine and cider.

Most frequently requested items on our stall this year were Terry’s Chocolate Orange, Wilkins marmalade with whisky (had to be with whisky!) and Wilkins lemon curd. We were also asked how to cook Christmas puddings and then to explain why it was necessary to set fire to them. We did our best….

Best wishes from Richard, Helen Keith and Sue.

More pictures here:

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