Potters Bar Town Twinning Assocaition

Twinned with Viernheim & Franconville

INNENSTADTFEST: VIERNHEIM

September 1st-3rd 2006

The weather on Saturday and Sunday was ideal – sunny but not too hot. What a relief, as this followed a stormy and very wet August in Viernheim, as it had been in the UK.

Despite the good weather, concern was expressed by everyone about possible attendance, as Germany was playing Ireland on Saturday evening (Germany won 1-0) and the first few hours were very quiet.
Fortunately not all people are football fans and between 8pm and midnight the townsfolk turned out and business was brisk.

We were again on the site to which we moved last year, right in the heart of things. The major open fronted marquee was set up in front of the old school, with its stage used for the ceremonies and entertainment. Food, drink and conversation could be enjoyed while sitting in the central open air area, round which were various stalls. The stands for the Englischer Club, ourselves, the French and the Italians (Viernheim is also twinned with Rovigo) abutted each other on one side, giving us all maximum exposure. Because of our ‘ring side’ position we were also able to enjoy the great variety of entertainment while dispensing our draught, drams and soft drinks. This ranged from a local ‘oompah’ band to a rock group, a magician and a Big Band with vocalist and we could watch people using the area allotted to dancing. Excellent! We had steady business on Sunday, with the last can of Guinness going five minutes before closing.

As only three members attended – myself, Chris & Michael Dawes – we had geared ourselves up for two very long days. Fortunately Heike and Robert from Potters Bar were visiting Viernheim and gave us their assistance, as did Manfred Fraas who worked with us on Saturday night…(perhaps finding it preferable to sandwich making for the Englischer Club!!?) This eased the manning situation.
On a practical note- we really do need at least 6-8 people and so the apathy shown by the membership was disheartening. The Innenstadtfest is always the first weekend of September….easy to earmark well in advance in your diaries….so please do consider taking part next year.

I must say that we all had a lot of laughs, enjoyed chatting with the locals and fraternizing with the French. It’s a good way of meeting up with our German and French friends while being part of Viernheim’s excellent and lively two-day festival, representing our own town. Many thanks to Wolfgang and members of the Englischer Club for their invaluable help and hospitality as usual.

John Munday