Leicestershire & Krefeld Fire Service celebrate 50th year of friendship

After our first meeting in Krefeld, 1973 it was time to celebrate fifty years of this friendship and our colleagues in the Krefeld Fire Service always insisted that this would be their show.

The event nearly didn’t get off the ground as our outward-bound flight to Dusseldorf was cancelled with less than 24 hours’ notice due to industrial action in Germany. Some sterling work by several team members managed to source an alternative flight from Stanstead to Eindhoven where our Krefeld colleagues said they could pick us up. This took some considerable effort to organise with so little time available, well done to all concerned.

We arrived in Eindhoven mid-morning on Thursday and our hosts took us to the border town of Venlo for lunch. It was then on to Krefeld and the main group of our party were staying in the volunteer station of Hüls twenty minutes outside Krefeld. Others had elected to stay in a hotel in Krefeld but we all travelled to the station for an emotional reception followed by a BBQ and pub games.

Friday was the day of the big parade. Our contingent consisted of retired members of the fire service from previous trips and serving members currently involved with the friendship. We were joined by the fire fighters of Krefeld and led by a Scots pipe band and police motorcycle escort into the town hall square. Here the square was flanked by the appliances of today’s service as well as a contingent from Krefeld’s Museum society. All fronted by more members of the Krefeld fire service.

The Green party Mayor of Krefeld welcomed us all with a splendid speech in both English and German. We were also greeted by the Fire service Chief officer, Andreas Klos and speeches in reply were made by our association chairman, Simon Kellock and President of the Association of retired firefighters, and team member, Frank Byrne.

Further presentations were made and the pipe band treated us to a ten minute performance of old favourite tunes.

Time to change into more comfortable attire before the team split into two groups for the afternoon activities. The snow dome for the more active and Xanten Roman Museum for others. Both teams thoroughly enjoyed themselves although one snow border had a fall and dislocated his shoulder and damaged ligaments.

The evening for the Museum group was spent at a restaurant in the old North Railway Station where we sampled some excellent local fayre.

All activities had been kept a close secret so the surprises kept on coming. Saturday saw us travel to the Deutsches Bergbau Museum at Bochum. This excellent museum was dedicated to Germany’s coal mining industry which, like ours, is now in decline.

The next activity had taken them more than a year to set up. Fifty tickets to see Borussia Dortmund play Frankfurt at the Signal Iduna Park stadium. This magnificent venue holds over eighty-one thousand spectators and the atmosphere is difficult to describe. Dortmund won 4-0 with a goal from England’s own Jude Bellingham, this put them top of the table and the fans nearly lifted the roof off.

One hours drive home and all feeling pretty tired, but what a day.

On Sunday we travelled to the new Headquarters and main Fire Station where our old colleague is remembered by the naming of the approach road “Bob Miller Platz.” Bob died in a fire in Leicester and had been a popular member of our twinning activities.

Here we again split into two groups with one playing in a five aside football tournament and the rest going on a cycle ride. We all dressed in Germany’s 1970 football strip just to add a little atmosphere.

For the afternoon we travelled to the pub Restaurant Hülser Bergschänke,. owned by our old friend and landlord,Robert Obertreis, situated in the woodland of the Hülser Berg just outside Krefeld.

We started proceedings with coffee and cake provided by our host’s families and then went on to a delicious buffet put on in our honour by the landlord and his staff. Presentations were made by both sides to celebrate the fifty years of our friendship and included an engraved stone plaque from Leicester and the metal door guardians from Krefeld’s old main Fire Station, mounted on a wooden plaque. There were also several photo albums detailing our history and pictures going back to the first trip of 1973.

Proceedings now took on a more informal nature with celebrations continuing for some into the early hours, it’s fair to say this was a night to remember.

Monday was our final day but our flight did not depart from Dusseldorf until the evening. Some may have expected a day of reflection and relaxation but our hosts decided it would be better to go water skiing. We travelled to a nearby cable ski park.

With the rain falling and a water temperature of thirteen degrees C, the majority of our party donned wetsuits and had a go with varying degrees of success but what a morning, plenty of laughs and thankfully no more injuries although plenty of sore muscles.

And so, the trip was coming to an end. What a tremendous celebration of this friendship it had been. Thanks to all our colleagues in Krefeld who put in so much effort to make this weekend a success and adapted to all the problems we could throw at them. With this kind of dedication I can’t see why the friendship cannot go on for another fifty years.

By Jerry Askham