Bad Laasphe Pt 3 (Small Walks and Christmas Market)

Our second day in Bad Laasphe started with some free time which we used to have a short wander around the centre of the old town which consists of some really old timber framed buildings dating back to the 1200's.

When the time came to be met we were invited on a “Small Walk”, this sounded great however our hosts idea of a short walk was not quiet the small walk I was expecting. We were taken to a small park up a small hill which housed the local war memorial, and what a fantastic view of the town there was from there, you really got a sense of the wooded hills surrounding Bad Laasphe.

Right walk over and off to open the Christmas market, this was a small market in the old town which had a real Christmas feel to it and as far as I could see only sold take away food, beer and mulled wine which was fantastic. Once again I found myself going through the motions of guessing what to do as I had no idea what was being said. I stood on stage as their mayor thanked people for coming and thanked those who had sponsored the event. This was done with parcels wrapped under a tree one with each sponsors name on which were read out in tern.

Later that evening before dinner we had the opportunity to return to the market which was packed, there were loads of people eating drinking an milling around it was a fantastic atmosphere really welcoming.

Bad Laasphe (Pt2) Fire Fighting

It was a privileged to be able to attend the handover of a new turntable ladder at the Bad Laaspe fire station. The weather was a tiny bit damp, more drizzle than rain, and there was a cold wind as we arrived at the Fire Station, as we rounded the corner into the yard we where greeted by around a dozen appliances and  vehicles plus loads of people.

The handover ceremony started almost immediately after we arrived with the Bürgermeister (mayor) of bad Laasphe making a speech and presenting the chief fire officer with a giant Iveco Key to symbolise the had over of the new appliance. After a few speeches (in German obviously and well translated by the person next to me) I was Introduced and called forward to make a presentation to the chief fire officer, before I left for Germany being on the Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Authority I arranged for an authority plaque to take. I presented my gift much to the pleasure and honour of the Chief fire officer this was followed by Tony Goodwin (Chief Executive of TBC) presenting the station with a gift from the council, we too received gifts  and relaxed to chat.

Our relaxation was short lived and replaced with exhilaration as Tony and I were given the opportunity to go up in the new ladder platform, we both stepped in and the platform began to rise. to our surprise the movement was very smooth and stable without wobble or jolt, before we knew it we were 6 storeys up (100ft 30m ish) swinging around in the air looking down on roof tops and about 150 people below. the feeling was amazing, I would never had dreamt I would have the opportunity to do this but there I was 6 storeys up and not able to speak the same language as the person operating the controls.

Feet back on the ground and legs becoming shaky it was time to join the other guests in the fire station and enjoy some refreshment, conveniently the chief fire officer is also the local brewer and the local Bosch Pils was flowing nicely. Once again the residents of Bad Laasphe were really friendly and we spent allot of the evening talking to both members of their twinning and local fire fighter who made us feel really welcome.

The Fire service in Germany is voluntary (in a similar was to our retained crews a payment is paid however this goes through their employer) and the local community raises funds for equipment, but the dedication of these fire fighters is second to none.

We had a fantastic evening till around 10 o'clock when a days travelling from Tamworth began to take hold and we made our way to our hotel room for the week end.

Bad Laasphe (Pt1) The Golden Book

31 years ago Tamworth and Bad Lassphe (Germany) signed a declaration that we would Twin and build relations between the two areas. This year as Mayor of Tamworth I travelled to Bad Laasphe to sign their Golden book in the spirit of reaffirming this relationship and also attend the handover of some nice fire fighting equipment.
The first thing that struck me about the visit was the genuine welcome we received, and the pleasure they had that we had made the effort. speaking not a word of German made the speeches interesting but not a problem as we had great a translator who had volunteered to assist, not only that but many of the people we met spoke good English too and made us feel very welcome. They still have a real grasp as to the value of twinning and the learning and sharing opportunities that it provides, the weekend really opened my eyes to this and I feel we in Tamworth should do more to raise the profile of the learning that is available through twinning.

So signing the golden book. Every visiting dignitary that Bad Lassphe has is invited to sign the golden book, this is kept in the Rathaus or town hall and serves as live reminder of the recent history of Bad Lassphe. I quickly scanned the book to see what to do and who else had signed it the first page I opened at random was on from 1985 and contained the signature of the greatly missed Sammy Munn. Having taken a moment to inform the councillors of Bad Laasphe of his sad passing it was on with the ceremony which was attended by local councillors and the local press.

So with the book signed by myself, the Mayoress and Tony Goodwin the chief exec of Tamworth we retired to another room where we had time to met and chat to members of the twinning group in Bad Laasphe and councillors of the area including exchanging stories about the Staffordshire Hoard and previous twinning triumphs.