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In March, 1995, the Sevenoaks Town Council
was approached about forming a friendship link. Rheinbach was already
twinned  with
Villeneuve lez Avignon in France, and had a friendship link with
Deinze in Belgium.
That September, the Sevenoaks Town Council hosted an open meeting,
and a Steering Group for ‘Friends of Rheinbach’ was
formed: we were in business.
Since then, significant group, family and individual visits have
taken place, in either direction. We have introduced cricket to
Rheinbach! A school exchange is up and running. We have also been
able to arrange work experience for a few students each year, and
this has proved very successful. Our last visit featured a trip
to the famous German Christmas Markets and we exchanged Christmas
cakes with our German hosts. So, what and where is Rheinbach?
Rheinbach is a small, pleasant modern town with some earlier features
- the attractive inner town has many striking half-timbered buildings
and the remains of a castle. It is a commuter town for Bonn and
Cologne. It lies in agricultural environs but includes, on its outskirts,
significant and growing industrial and commercial areas. Its population,
taking into account the surrounding villages, is about 30,000.
Rheinbach has three grammar schools, a music school, a College of
Technology and a superb sport and swimming centre. It is well-known
for its glass industry, including a major training facility - glassmakers
from Bohemia relocated in Rheinbach in 1945.
Rheinbach is within easy reach of Sevenoaks whatever your mode of
transport. Budget airlines from Gatwick offer flights to Cologne
/ Bonn Airport (Less than one hour from Rheinbach); fast rail links
using Eurostar, with changes in Brussels and Cologne or under eight
hours if driving using the Tunnel link.
The connection with Rheinbach is open-ended. You don’t need
to speak German - quite a proportion of our membership has very
little, or none at all. But if you want linguistic, educational,
cultural, social, sporting, commercial, craft, - whatever! - links
with Germany, come and join us, and let’s see what we can
do together!
Would you like more information, or someone to come and talk to
you and your members? - Ring the Secretary, Chris Sutton on 01959
523320 or email: chris.sutton@aseuro.co.uk
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