Jerusalem
As
Francis Bacon said, Travel, in the younger sort, is a
part of education; in the elder, a part of experience.
The group of seventeen
who set off from Church a few weeks ago to visit Preston's twin city in Germany,
Recklinghausen, certainly encompassed both those willing to learn and those
ready for adventure.
Some had never flown before, others were keen to practise their German and all of us were looking forward to renewing old acquaintances or making new friends.
Our hosts were drawn from the church family of the Evangelical Methodist Church in Recklinghausen some of them having visited us in 2001. As expected we received a warm welcome and those who invited us into their homes for the duration of the visit were particularly hospitable.
Recklinghausen is a very pleasant city (population approx. 120,000) in the Ruhr and some of us staying near the church itself were able to enjoy the pedestrianised shopping centre, particularly the clothing shops and department stores. That is, if we could fit such vital things into a busy and packed programme arranged for us by our hosts.
Visits were made to Cologne (Köln), the Museum of Icons in Recklinghausen (the largest collection of icons in Western Europe), the Electricity Museum nearby and the immense Chemical Works at Marl, some 7 miles to the north west.
In addition there was a Civic Reception by the Mayor (Burgermeister) at the Rathaus, a tour of historic Recklinghausen, a bilingual Bible Study on the Tower of Babel led by Peter Sheasby as well as Sunday morning worship in their beautiful new church. This doubled as the venue for an entertaining concert the night before with items provided by both visitors and hosts.
On Sunday, after we had treated our hosts to lunch at a nearby restaurant, the party broke into two groups. The younger members with Delma took part in a Youth Event (referred to in more detail in another article in this magazine) and the rest of us went to the main church in the city; St. Peter's, Recklinghausen's oldest building first mentioned in 1166. There we attended Ecumenical worship on Reformation Day at which statements regarding the Reformation were made by all the main churches. Peter spoke on the Reformation in the UK mentioning a certain large king who seemed to get through wives at an alarming rate. This was followed by a visit to an exhibition of historic Bibles and Psalteries and a guided tour of St Peter's.
The majority of the party travelled to and from Dusseldorf airport by train and this proved to be quite an adventure in itself. Most of the time we were in very modern double-decker coaches with a ride so smooth you felt you were hardly moving, even at high speed.
By our return flight, we were all seasoned fliers unfazed by anything the security people came up with: even a high-speed zoom through the airport for Violet and Elsie (due to the late arrival of the official pusher) and free entertainment provided by Eric, whose artificial metal hips baffled the security man!
Early Monday we returned, tired but having gained two hours thanks to time-zones and the end of BST, after a busy but fascinating visit.
Our thanks go to Derek who masterminded the visit and to all our friends in Recklinghausen. I am sure there will be many individual communications by letter, phone and email and maybe other visits made before the next official exchange.
© Fulwood Methodist Church
15:15:09 Wednesday, 26 October 2005
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