Glossop Town Twinning Association visit German twin town, Bad Vilbel

For the past 37 years Glossop has been twinned with Bad Vilbel, a spa town near Frankfurt in Germany. 

Glossop Town Twinning Association recently made the trip over to Germany to visit Bad Vilbel for the first time since the pandemic. 

The Chronicle spoke to Karen Shaw who is a member of the Town Twinning Association and she explained what they did on their trip and what these ​​excursions consist of.
The trip began on a Thursday, Karen added: “The formal reception on Thursday evening is the official start of the visit and this year we were greeted on a beautiful sunny evening, when we shared reminiscences and talked about our plans for the future.”  

Each member of the British committee was given a ‘kit’ to make the famous Frankfurt Green Sauce, comprising a set of the appropriate herbs and a tea towel showing the recipe. We, in turn, took framed photos of the Peak District to give as gifts to our hosts.”

On Friday the German group had organised a full day trip to Bad Nauheim, another spa town in the region, which happens to be twinned with Buxton.  

Bad Nauheim is famous for its Art Nouveau style bath houses dating from the beginning of the 20th century.  

Karen explained: “We were able to have a peep inside one of them, although they were currently undergoing a refurbishment programme.  Nevertheless, we saw the beautiful, tiled interior and lovely outdoor courtyard during a guided tour of the town.”  

Other highlights for the group included a visit to the graduation towers and ‘inhalatorium’ , part of the history of salt refinement and related health treatments in the town. Also seeing the life size statue of Elvis on  the River Usa.  Elvis was stationed near Bad Nauheim when he did his national service in Germany in the 1950s. He is celebrated with an annual Elvis Festival in the town.

“Saturday is the time when individual hosts choose somewhere to take their guests.  This year it was the hottest day of the trip at 33C, so many of us sought out shaded spots or places with air conditioning. 

A few cooled down in Bad Vilbel’s lovely open air swimming pool. The highlight of Saturday is the Social Evening, when we met the new mayor of Bad VIlbel, Sebastian Wysocki, for the first time.  

In his welcome speech, he outlined some of the initiatives and changes taking place in Bad Vilbel at present.  The town has been chosen to host ‘Hessentag’ in 2025.  This is a prestigious showcase event, the oldest and one of the largest state celebrations in Germany, which Herr Wysocki was keen to invite us all to attend.  In return, the British group extended its invitation for him and his family to visit Glossop with the partnership group next year.  

We were entertained at the Social Evening with a super performance by Ukrainian musician Naina Doroshenko, who fled to Germany two years ago and is now studying at the Frankfurt Conservatoire. Her range extended from traditional Ukrainian folk songs accompanied on the bandura, to well well-known international pop songs.”

On Sunday the group travelled to Steinfurth to see the amazing ‘Rose Festival’. 

Karen said: “Quite a few of the British members are keen gardeners, so this was something particular on their ‘wish list’.  We were treated to a fabulous display of numerous beautiful and fragrant varieties in the rose hall, the rose museum and the rose church and we had a go at pinning roses on to a display to create an image for a float.  

The highlight of the day was the famous rose parade, a series of 12 amazing, themed floats decorated completely with roses and interspersed in the parade with numerous bands, dance groups and processions of rose queens from surrounding towns.  The carnival atmosphere was enhanced by the super fragrance of thousands of fresh roses as the floats passed by.” 

The final gathering for the group was back in Bad Vilbel on Sunday evening in the beer garden of a local pizzeria, where they shared their favourite moments from the trip and remembered absent friends.  

Some members of the British group travelled home the following day, whilst others extended their stay to continue their travels in Germany.  

 “We are looking forward to our twinning friends visiting us in Glossop in the summer of 2025 and would love to welcome new members to join us.  Anyone who’s interested can follow us on Facebook or Instagram to find out more about our upcoming events.  The next event is a ‘coffee and cake’ afternoon with a quiz and games for all the family and a chance to see the pictures from our trip, on Saturday 14th September from 2.30pm to 4.30pm at Glossop Labour Club, Chapel Street, Glossop.  Entry is free and everyone is welcome.  Or come and meet the German twinning members on Zoom on Sunday 29th September at 7.00pm. Contact us for further details.  We would love to hear from you. You can get involved by messaging via the website: www.glossoptowntwinning.co.uk or socials on Facebook or Instagram at Glossop_town_twinning.