Bracknell Twinning Members Free to Visit Twin Town Leverkusen Again!

August 2022

Members of Bracknell Twinning, accompanied by Bracknell Town Mayor, Dai Roberts, have just returned from a long, action-packed weekend (12-15 August 2022) with German hosts and friends in Twin Town Leverkusen, Germany, after four years’ ‘No Go’ – primarily due to Covid-19 restrictions in both countries.

In June 2019, members of ‘Freundeskreis Bracknell-Leverkusen’ visited Bracknell, staying with local hosts, for a very exciting programme of social gatherings and sight-seeing – including the Houses of Parliament, a boat trip on the River Thames, Blenheim Palace and Hampton Court.

Unfortunately, a return visit to Leverkusen by Bracknell Twinning in June 2020, which was to include a stay in the Mosel area and a trip on the River Mosel, had to be cancelled due to the pandemic.

Thanks to Bracknell Twinning Chair, Mary Temperton, and her counterpart in Leverkusen, this year’s return visit to Leverkusen was able to take place and included a visit to the chemical Bayer company Colonies Museum in Leverkusen town centre; a visit to the Waldfrieden Sculpture Park set in Wuppertal woodland and opened in 2008 by British sculptor, Tony Cragg; a ride on the unique ‘hanging’ monorail along the River Wupper; and an evening at the Annual Leverkusen Beer Festival on the banks of the River Wupper to sample local, national and international beers and culinary dishes, including the traditional German Bratwurst!

An inter-town friendship and partnership visit would not be complete without a more formal Reception at the Leverkusen City Hall, attended by both Bracknell Town Mayor and Leverkusen Lord Mayor, where guests from Bracknell were warmly welcomed. Lord Mayor Uwe Richrath acknowledged that next year Bracknell and Leverkusen will be celebrating 50 years of twinning, and he vowed to attend the Leverkusen return visit to Bracknell then.

‘It was wonderful and reassuring to see ‘old friends’ again and make new friends in Leverkusen, a relatively new town, with which Bracknell shares much in common. Even the Lord Mayor of Leverkusen, Uwe Richrath, seems like an ‘old friend’, and it was a pleasure and honour to meet him again after four years’ absence!’ (Maggie Stock, member of the Bracknell Twinning Committee).