By Alison Bailey
Bensheim, a market town 35 miles south of Frankfurt, has some similarities with its twin town of Amersham. Its historic old town contains carefully maintained, timbered, medieval buildings and whilst we have the Chilterns, Bensheim is surrounded by the tree covered hills of the Odenwald.
The German town is known for its mild climate, averaging nearly 2000 hours of sunshine a year, which provides the perfect environment for its vineyards. An annual Winzerfest (Wine Festival) is held at the beginning of September.
In 2027 the twin towns will be celebrating their 50-year anniversary. However, the relationship between Amersham and Bensheim started much earlier. This is the story.
A love story
In 1950, Elisabeth (Elli) Haus left Bensheim to work as an au pair in Amersham. She liked the town and later went to work as a housekeeper for John Brazil at Town Mill. She met her husband Denis Cleary from Chalfont St Peter, and they married in Amersham in 1959. They lived in Graham Court Chesham Road and had a son, Peter.
Football
In 1963 Elli’s brother Kurt Haus drove over to visit her. Herr Jupp Habermehl of the Bensheim Football Association had asked if he could find an English youth team who would like to come and play in Germany. Kurt met George King, the president of 1st Chesham Bois Pioneer Scouts and consequently, a group of Pioneer Scouts travelled to Bensheim to play a match the following Whitsun. Amersham won 4:0, and they invited their German hosts to England.
On 26 September 1965, the Chesham Bois Scouts played Bensheim under the new floodlights at the Chesham United ground. This time the Scouts won 2:1. A reception was held at the Pioneer Hall and gifts and plaques exchanged. After that the football exchange became an annual feature and the Scouts went to Bensheim every year to play in a football tournament with clubs from Klagenfurt in Austria, Rouen in France and Marisca Mersch in Luxemburg. Pioneer Scouts Adrian Cole and Derek Hook liked Bensheim so much that they settled there.
Bobbies on tour
In March 1973 police from the Amersham and Chesham Area B Division Thames Valley Police, travelled to Bensheim for four days to meet colleagues in the International Police Association. The group was invited to a wine-tasting, and taken to visit local castles, the River Neckar and the lovely city of Heidelberg. At a reception Sergeant John Pearson presented Burgermeister Herr Georg Stolle with a plaque from the Thames Valley Police Force and a British Bobby’s helmet. The visit was such a success that Herr Stolle asked to formally twin with Amersham.
Despite the existing association with Amersfoort, many Amersham councillors including Jean Archer and Vera Head were staunch supporters of the new twinning opportunity. Later Vera’s husband, Gordon, became the Amersham-Bensheim Twinning Association’s treasurer. Other councillors, particularly Eric Corns, needed more persuasion but in June 1977 Amersham and Bensheim were twinned.
The Amersham-Bensheim Twinning Association
Bensheim’s links were effectively with Chesham as well as Amersham. Chesham All Girls Band have regularly travelled to Bensheim, and from 1978 pupils studying German O’level at Chesham Grammar (then Chesham High School) exchanged with Alte Kurstfurstliches (AKF) Gymnasium School in Bensheim. In 1981 Dr Challoner’s Boys School also started a successful exchange programme. An English telephone box was installed in Bensheim in 1987, and a square was named Amersham Platz. In 1994 Amersham named a road off Chiltern Avenue, Bensheim Way.
1983
1983 seems to have been a particularly important year in the relationship between Amersham and Bensheim. Pioneer Scout Adrian Cole, still living in Germany, married Brigitte Holzner Klaus and Karen Ford of Copperkins Lane became engaged to Wilfried Kuhlmey, whom she had met on an exchange visit.
Sylvia Rindfleisch who had married Holmer Green boy, John Enticknap the previous year gave birth to their daughter, Denise Claudia in April 1983. The couple met when he travelled to Bensheim with the Amersham Band in 1980 and Sylvia’s band were also participating in the Winzerfest. John stayed in the area and became a Meister Baker.
16 July 1983, Amersham held a Bensheim Gala day in Amersham with a parade from Mill Lane, along the High Street, and round into Barn Meadow. The parade was led by the Chesham Boys and Girls Brigade Band, followed by different organisations and societies carrying colourful banners and standards. Amersham Mayor Keith Halifax and Burgermeister Georg Stolle were paraded through the town in a horse and cart. Entertainment at the Meadow included a pig-roast, Bensheim wine tasting, the Elangeni Morris Dancers and a display by the Amersham Dog Training Club. Mrs Monzani’s Ballet School also gave a performance of German folk dances that they had learned in Bensheim the previous Easter.
That weekend the German guests were also taken on a tour of the Chilterns with a typically English tea party and a visit to London. Earlier in the week, Sir Ian Gilmour MP had invited Herr Stolle, his wife Waltraud and their children for a tour of the Houses of Parliament.
Active Association
The connection between the two towns has been reinvigorated in recent years, particularly as Amersham Band has gone from strength to strength with more members able to travel to Germany. This year members of the Band took part in Bensheim’s Winzerfest once again, marching with other bands in the parade of over 80 floats. They also played at
venues across town and in the opening ceremony. The Amersham Bensheim Association is currently going strong and looking forward to celebrating its 50-year anniversary in 2027.
Please get in touch if you also found love through the town Twinning Association or have stories to share at [email protected]