On the occassion of the 40th Anniversary between the twinning cities Karlsruhe and Nottingham, a “Karlsruhe Week” took place in Nottingham from 14-17.10.09. Christa Fuss, honorary president of the German-English-Friendshipclub, representing the DEF, was a member of the official delegation from Karlsruhe which was lead by the 1st Lord Mayor of Karlsruhe, OB Heinz Fenrich.
During the official welcome on Wednesday, 14.10 in the Town Council House, Lord Mayor Jeannie Packer and lst Lord Mayor Heinz Fenrich reaffirmed the close cooperation in many fields between the twinning cities and confirmed the tight binding friendships between the friendship clubs in Karlsruhe and Nottingham. Alma Shipman, honorary president and Arnie Butler, chairperson of the Nottingham-Karlsruhe Friendship club gave an overview of their twinning work.

On Thursday, the 15.10 the Nottingham population had the opportunity to visit the Karlsruhe Tent on the Market Square where they could look at an exhibition about Karlsruhe, put together by the NKFC. The “Folkabilly-Band” from Karlsruhe and the “Trinity School Show Band” from Nottingham put on a performance as well. Impressive was the visit to the Centre for Contemporary Art and Media (Nottingham contemporary). This building being still under construction. In the New Art Exchange section an African-Caribic-Asian Art was on display. Nottingham is on its way to being the most important Art and Media Centres in Great Britain. At the end of the day there was a cheerful/contemplative evening offered at the Lace Market Theatre with performances given by the Goethe Gymnasium and the Nottingham Youth Theatre.

 On Friday, 16.10 a guided tour through the Broadway Cinema and Media Centre took place, where youth from all cultural fields of life are given the opportunity to engage themselves creatively. Thereafter a tour was offered through the Bonnington Gallery, University for Art and Design at the Trent University of Nottingham. After a humorous tour through the “Gallery of Justice”, that evening a dance performance in the Arts Centre at the University of Nottingham took place.

On Saturday, 17.10 an open event was offered to the Nottingham public at the „Speakers Corner“ in the centre of Nottingham – Theme being: “How do the citizens of Nottingham profit from the twinning with Karlsruhe”. Christa Fuss from the DEF and Arnold Butler from NKFC reported over the beginning of the friendship club and the intensive friendships that have existed for over 30 years where exchange visits were important factors. One of the main activities this year will be the visit of some members of the NKFC to the Twinning Stand at the Christmas Market in Karlsruhe from 26.-29.11.09. The finalization of the “Karlsruhe Week” was the official opening of the GEDOK-Exhibition “Eyes open” from Karlsruhe in the Angle Row Gallery of the Trent University Notingham, where 3 artists from Karlsruhe were personally present.
 
text by Christa translated by Rose