About 100 people from Dereham went to the German twin town to share in celebrations for Rüthen's 800th anniversary. Dereham Band president Marjorie Harvey gives an account of the successful trip.

On Wednesday, August 23rd, the coach left the band room at 6.30am and travelled via Dover to Rüthen, arriving at 8.00pm to be met by our hosts.

On Thursday a trip was arranged to the safari park at Stuckenbrock. It was a lovely sunny day, so there was little movement from the animals on the safari park but the huge "amusement park" proved to be the real highlight of the visit. It was a super family complex catering for all ages, all the rides and shows were free. Our visit ended with a number of us holding impromptu races on the big slide for the final half hour !!!!.

On Friday we went to Paderborn and visited the Nixdorf Computer Museum, what an amazing place and our visit was far to short. We had a couple of hours afterwards to enjoy the delightful town itself. Friday evening marked the start of a very full programme of events to celebrate the 800th birthday of Rüthen and the millennium. Thousands of people gathered on the old town wall, which commands a splendid view across the valley. Soon the warm sunny evening resounded to the sounds of battle and cannon fire as the mock battle began, enacting out the failed attempt to storm the town's walls. Everywhere was so clean with buildings newly painted. A large maypole dominates the town square, put up at the beginning of May, with pictures showing the many crafts of Rüthen.

On Saturday and Sunday we spent most of the days around the town itself, which was a blaze of colour from flags stretched across the streets and many large Rüthen flags hanging from buildings. There was lots of entertainment arranged in the Market Place, in the lovely Kloster Gardens and in the church grounds. Many stalls lined the streets, there were craft stalls and demonstrations in the churchyard. An exhibition of vestments, old bibles and historic church books was in St. John's Church. There was much to see with a number of bands performing, plays by the children, choirs from Rüthen and neighbouring villages.

Saturday morning celebrations began with a procession into the Market Place, groups representing organisations in the town itself, neighbouring villages and the two twinned towns. A group from Dereham including Roger Broscombe (Twinning Chairman), Pat Jarrett (Town Clerk) and Linda Monument (Town Councillor) followed a banner to take their place on the platform. On Saturday evening the Dereham band and the Bergstadt Musikanten played (separately) in the Market Place to a large appreciative audience. Later they drew up benches and seats round tables for an impromptu social gathering.

On Sunday morning about 800 people gathered in the high school playground for an ecumenical service, during which a group from the kindergarten school acted out a delightful play. The rest of the day followed a similar pattern to Saturday's programme until the weather intervened around 3.30pm with a torrential downpour. Both bands met up in the evening for a barbecue at the band room. The weather was still unkind so most of us stayed in the band room itself to enjoy steaks, sausages and salad and the hospitality of out hosts. Dereham Band presented the Bergstadt Musikanten with an English oak tree and received a picture showing nine different scenes from Rüthen and nearby villages.

On Monday at 6.30am we said goodbye and thank you to our hosts and began our long journey home. Rüthen is a delightful town situated in beautiful countryside. The town centre has cobbled streets and therefore very little traffic is seen there normally. During the weekend the centre and surrounding streets were closed to traffic so the thousands of inhabitants and visitors could enjoy the attractions and move freely. Our visit seemed to fly past and we all carried home many happy and special memories.