Potters Bar Town Twinning Association

Twinned with Viernheim & Franconville

Speech by Matthias BaaB Mayor of Viernheim

A quote from Matthias BaaB speech from the 2007 Town Twining ceremonies.

An 8 year old boy asked his parents, on returning from their first visit to the partner town: “What actually is a town partnership?"

Instead of giving a detailed explanation, they answered: “After an incredibly long bus journey we arrived tired but full of expectation in our partner town. First of all we were led into a large room where we were greeted with a glass of sekt and some friendly words, which were fortunately translated for us, otherwise we would have understood very little. Then our names were called out and suddenly two people we had of course never seen before, were standing in front of us.”

“They greeted us warmly, almost effusively, as if we were old friends. They took us and our luggage back to their house and gave us their best room, while they would satisfy themselves with a couch in a small room. They proudly showed us their apartment and the garden and spoke quite normally, although we could hardly understand a thing. But using our arms and gesticulating we managed to get our messages across. They were constantly offering us something to eat and drink, a lot of which we didn't recognize...”

“A number of friends came to visit who would then invite us to their houses. Our hosts drove us to all the events, showed us interesting parts of their town, spoke about their family, their jobs and even gave us a house key...”

''Wow", said the boy, ,,but they didn't even know you properly. 'That's like when I go to my friends to stay overnight."

“Yes", said his father, “that's exactly how it was: we were guests, staying with friends we had only just met. But now we have become good friends and they will be coming to visit us here soon. That is a town "partnership", although we did a lot more than that: concerts, receptions, sport activities, an exhibition - we ate and celebrated together, we sang and we even danced - we got to know a lot of the town and the people.."

“Cool", said the boy.