Photo Feature: Guildford Shows Itself Off in Freiburg

Published on: 24 Jul, 2017
Updated on: 27 Jul, 2017

By Barbara Ford

Chair of the Guildford-Freiburg Association

Photographs taken by members of the association.

Guildford is twinned with Freiburg, a beautiful south-west German city – but Freiburg itself has 12 twin towns, drawn from all over the world.

Every two years it invites them all to a party, the Internationales Treffen der Partnerstädte Freiburgs, at which each twin town runs a stall in the mediaeval central square and shows itself off.

Last month’s event, held in the searing heatwave, was the ninth in the series.

“Partner cities introduce themselves…”

Granada was there, selling olives and other Spanish produce.

Lviv, Ukraine, showed off its handicrafts: traditional wooden toys and printed fabrics.

Wiwilí in Nicaragua is a recent addition to Freiburg’s twinning list.

Jazz aus Madison in the culture tent: the Madison College Big Band (that’s Madison, Wisconsin).

Guildford’s musical contribution was provided by Tony Trent (accordion) and Annie Messerschmidt (violin) who played folk songs and led a spirited session of the Hokey-Cokey.

The Guildford stall was run by the Guildford-Freiburg Association, a group of enthusiastic Guildford volunteers who support the twinning. The stall mixed support for local businesses – Silent Pool Distillery (Ian McCulloch and assistant Joe in photo) and Hog’s Back Brewery (John Greenwood of the association offering tastings on their behalf) – with support for tourism, association volunteers (Ros Calow and Frauke Burge) inside the tent handed out leaflets from the Guildford Tourist Information Centre and answered questions.

Suwon, Korea, is a very recent addition to Freiburg’s list. They invited visitors (including association member Pam Gillingham in photo) to try on traditional dress and have themselves photographed.

If you would like to join a group visiting Freiburg next year, or you’d like to support the international friendship and co-operation represented by the twinning, email: guildford.freiburg@gmail.com