|
SISTER CITY OF LYNCHBURG-PLUS |
|
|
Volume 4, Issue 1 |
Spring 2004 |
|
Board Members, Sister City of Lynchburg- Plus SYLVIANE BELLAMY BERT* BERTOLOTTI FRANK BRITT MEG COSBY MARTHA FAESI JOE FREEMAN BILL GOODMAN CRAIG HOVE HUGH JONES TRAVIS MCDONALD MANFRED MIBUS THERESE NAMENEK SCOTT ROBERT ELLEN ROWLSON-HALL MARI WHITE
|
Lynchburg Fire & EMS personnel
visit Rueil-Malmaison. On January 12-18, 2004, several members of the Lynchburg Fire &
EMS Department, accompanied by several Lynchburg residents, took the
opportunity of a Those taking the journey to France included Chief Buddy Martinette and his wife Sarah, Deputy Chief Brad Ferguson and his wife Rebecca, Battalion Chief Ed Jones and his wife Michelle, Captain Rick Guedj, Master Fire Fighter Jason Campbell and his wife Cassandra, and Bob Birch, a Volunteer from Campbell County, and his wife Dotty. Also making the trip were Sister City Board Member Margette Glass of NTELOS, Bill Bodine of Radiology Consultants, Bill Goodman a retired professor from Lynchburg College, and Therese Namenek, President of Lynchburg Sister City-Plus. Most of the group had the opportunity to "live" with the Rueil firefighters and exchange ideas and issues related to the fire service. The wives also stayed in the fire station and became somewhat of a hit with the French firefighters. This exchange was very informative and was a great learning experience for everyone. Particularly of interest was the fact that the majority of the calls in Rueil are emergency medical in nature, just like our department. The delegation attended a first night welcoming dinner that was attended by one hundred or more residents of Rueil. The Mayor, Jacques Baumel, one of the last 5 people still alive who fought in the French Resistance under DeGaulle, presented members of the Lynchburg delegation with a French firefighting helmet called a cask and a City Medal of Rueil at his New Years Speech. Other exciting events included a very emotional visit to Normandy where all of us took part in a wreath laying and flag folding ceremony at the American Cemetery. It was quite an honor for all of us to stand on that hollowed ground where so many of our service men died during D-Day. In addition group members visited many historic attractions in Rueil, visited Paris to see the Louvre and Eiffel Tower, and also took a tour down the historic Seine River. In the near future we are hoping to extend an invitation to the many French firefighters that made us feel so welcome. Many thanks go to Therese for helping us with the translation and to Bill Goodman for his knowledge of France and the French culture. If you would like to know more about the trip, just ask anyone who went and they will be glad to talk about it! |
|
|
|
|
"Goodwill Ambassador" Stephen
Meyer to perform with Lynchburg Symphony. Stephen Meyer, a talented young Lynchburg violinist, is taking a year’s leave of absence from Yale (where he is a double major in music and literature) to study violin performance in Paris, France. Stephen was proclaimed "Honorary Goodwill Amabassador to Rueil Malmaison" by Lynchburg Mayor Carl Hutcherson. The Rueil sister city officials invited Stephen to perform last November at a Rueil concert with musicians from other sister cities of Rueil. Stephen relates the following anecdote: He and his piano accompanist were having a pre-performance snack in a café near the concert hall, thinking they were in the second half of the program. But someone arrived at the café and said that the order had been changed, and they were to perform right away, in the first half! Stephen and his accompanist quickly finished their meal and hurried to the concert hall. But all went very well and he was warmly received. You yourself can hear Stephen’s talent, because he will appear at 3:00 PM on Sunday, March 21, at E.C. Glass Auditorium to perform the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the Lynchburg Symphony Orchestra. |
|
|
|
|
|
New Sister City connection made with
Glauchau, Germany. After almost 3 years of trying to find a German Sister City for Lynchburg it sounds very promising now. I started out in looking for some connection that already exists between Lynchburg and the future Sister City. In October 2001, I approached Erlangen, a city close to Nuernberg in southern Germany. Erlangen is the headquarter of Siemens and Siemens itself is part owner of Framatome. After one year and for several reasons, Erlangen was not able to give us a positive response. In October 2002 I tried to connect with Darmstadt, a city south of Frankfurt. The Burda printing company had one plant in this town (the corporation Meredith/Burda started in Lynchburg in 1970 and actually brought me here ) and Hofmann Corporation has their home base in a suburb of Darmstadt. This attempt did not work out either. In the Spring of 2003 I approached Bad Soden am Taunus ( fifteen minutes north of Frankfurt) which is the Sister City of Rueil-Malmaison, our French Sister City. Unfortunately this effort too was unsuccessful. On the website of "Sister City International" I found Dessau ( former East Germany) in the summer of 2003 as a city interested in connecting with the USA. The city is famous through the " Bauhaus." It played a leading role in the development of architecture and influenced architects all over the world. The composer, Kurt Weill, ( most famous for the "Dreigroschenoper" /1928 )was also born in Dessau. In the Fall of 2003 the city of Glauchau came into the picture. While still having Dessau in mind, the Consul General of the American Embassy in Leibzig, Mr.Fletcher M.Burton, played a major role in connecting us with Glauchau as a more promising object. Since than I have had several phone conversations and exchange of printed materials with city officials. Glauchau has a population of 28.000 and is fifty miles away from Leibzig and sixty-five miles from Dresden. The castle was built in 1170 and rebuilt in 1470. The castle of Glauchau, with its beauty of architecture, is a unique building in Saxony and contains the museum and the art collection, the gallery, the library, and the music school with a concert hall as the intellectual-cultural center of the town. The most famous son of Glauchau is Georgius Agricola (1494-1555) , a
doctor and scientist of coal and steel. Until today Agricola has been
mentioned as one of the founders of the Renaissance. In the Middle Ages,
cloth-makers and weavers were the main trade and made the town prosper.
In the first half of the 19th century the town gradually developed into
an industrial center. After the Berlin Wall came down and Germany was
reunited with the former East Germany, cities were modernized and
rebuilt. In 1995 a new administrative building was opened with combined
shops, boutiques, restaurants, and office spaces. Hotels and guest
houses are prepared to welcome visitors. |
|
|
|
|
|
ANNOUNCEMENTS "HOMESTAY" HOSTS NEEDED FOR SISTER CITY VISITORS Lynchburg families with open hearts and open homes are needed to host guests arriving to visit our city in the upcoming months. We need host families, "chauffeurs," and translators to ensure our visitors have a marvelous stay. |
|
|
|
|
|
OPPORTUNITIES 1. Delegation of three visitors from Glauchau, Germany May 5 - 10, 2004 2. Delegation of Firefighters and others from Rueil-Malmaison, France Fall 2004 (Dates to be announced) CONTACT: Sister City-Plus Board Members or Therese Namenek, 846-5327 STUDENT EXCHANGE |
|
|
|
|
|
CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS THURSDAY, March 4 - 6:00 PM MONDAY, March 15 - 5:30 PM SUNDAY, March 21 - 3:00 PM SUNDAY, March 28 - 4:00 PM MONDAY, April 19 - 5:30 PM MONDAY, May 19 - 5:30 PM FALL 2004 |
|
|
We publish a newsletter every three months and will include publicity for the Lynchburg Alliance Francaise and the Lynchburg Dante Alighieri Society. Please submit information for the next issue to Craig Hove ( chove@framatech.com )
|
|
lifetime
to visit Lynchburg’s sister city, Rueil-Malmaison, France. The
travelers stayed at a fire station and also with host families, so the
only cost they incurred for this fabulous trip was for their
transportation!