Our Guests in 2004

Parish Magdeburg Link - Partnership Link with Gross Ammensleben and surrounding villages

Gross Ammensleben is a village located a few miles north west of the city of Magdeburg in Germany. Magdeburg is about midway between Hannover and Berlin, it has a large and beautiful cathedral and is beside the River Elbe. The link is with several different village communities which are only a short distance apart and Gross Ammensleben is the central village in this area.

We started our link in 1996 with a visit by two of our parishioners to our link parishes in Germany. Since then we have made group visits to Germany in October 1998, September 2000, at the end of August 2002 when we went with 20 people which was our largest party ever, September 2005, and May 2009. Groups from Germany have visited us in October 1997, late September 1999, September 2001, late April 2004 and most recently in July 2010 when a party of 14 visited us including 4 children. Our link centres mainly on these exchange visits through which good friendships have been formed.

A great many of our parishioners are involved when we host a visit.  Some people who are unable to act as overnight hosts give a meal for a German guest or two in their own home.  We have a parish meal over the weekend and a parish outing with our German guests.  Similar arrangements are made when we go to Germany.  On our last visit we had an outing to Koethen following in the footsteps of JS Bach. Usually, the people who are involved on these Partnership Link occasions find them to be most enjoyable.  Promotion of international understanding happens unnoticed at a very natural and human level.