A visit from England, 1989 / translated by DK9ZTA meeting in May/June of 1989 proved a successful continuation of the amicable contacts between the Worksop and the Ober-Ramstadt Radio Amateurs.
At the penultimate day of our field day that particular year, Terry (G1JAX), his XYL Betty and their two children Darren and Lorraine as well as Peter (G6TLB) joined us. They had been met early in the morning by Roland (DG3FAU), Kurt (DL4ZAG) and Dieter (DD1FJ) at the Dutch-German border check point Aachen and accompanied to Darmstadt. An opulent lunch buffet that had been invented and prepared by Roland's XYL Irmgard was instrumental in refreshing and beefing up all participants. After Peter had been accommodated at Roland's and Terry and his family at Uli's, they wasted no time to get to the club's site "Eichhöhe" to view our "camping with radio".
On Sunday morning, May 28th, after some introductory words by the club's chairman Karl (DK9FS) and by Kurt (DL4ZAG), our guests were welcomed by the First Town Councillor of Ober-Ramstadt, Mr. Manfred Fischer. In his talk, held in English, he informed about contacts that the town had with England and other European countries, presented a survey of the cultural and economic situation of Ober-Ramstadt and finally handed over a gift. Peter (G6TBL) and Terry (G1JAX) thanked on behalf of the small group from the UK and on their part handed over some souvenirs to the club committee and the club. Among these ought to be particularly mentioned a fully functional brass pit lamp like the ones that are still in use in the last coal mines around Worksop.
However, a radio contact scheduled for 11am with the English home country of our friends could unfortunately not be established. Andy (DJ7IK) tried his very best, but the efforts were eventually abandoned.
The Monday had been intended for regeneration. The XYLs took advantage of the available time for an extended shopping expedition through Darmstadt while the guys paid an intense visit at the smallest local brewery. Terry's remark from the foregoing day, "It was a very hard field day", pronounced after a session with Odenwald beer, steaks and sausages, was perfectly appropriate after this "working lunch".
On Tuesday, Kurt had arranged for a trip to some amateur radio shops. We went to Zinke Funk in Darmstadt and to Ham-Radio in Offenbach. With some delay we arrived at Heiner's and Liesel's for a lunch. Part of this opulent meal was a culinary premiere for our English guests: Asparagus (a speciality of the region) in various variations.
Afterwards we were given the opportunity of viewing an exhibition at the Rossdorf museum of local history, guided by Heiner (DL3ZE). The next day was packed with schedules as well, starting with a trip to the VHF repeater DB0VB at Böllstein.
Kurt and Heiner explained the concept and the properties of the equipment. These were not totally unknown to our friends, as Heiner had, at the occasion of our visit to England, shown his super-8 movie film of the repeater's history of origins.
Peter (G6TBL) was bound to return home earlier than the others for family reasons, so Kurt took him to the Frankfurt/M. bus terminal. The remainder of the group took a trip to the Eulbach wild-life park near Michelstadt and continued to the famous Heidelberg Palace.
On June 1st there was a "reception" at the the mayor of Pfungstadt, Mr. Hofmann, the town actually twinned with Worksop /Retford. This short and casual performance, obviously given with the knowledge that he not much longer would rule the town, was shameful when we remembered the amiable and sumptuous welcome that we were given at that time in England. We were glad that this had been compensated for four days earlier by an appropriate welcome in Ober- Ramstadt.
A real highlight after this disappointing visit to the town hall was a stay in a Pfungstadt inn, "zur Rose" (the Rose). The landlord of this convivial house offered free beer and picture post cards to the representatives of our twin town. One more time a day ended with the motto "...a very hard field day!" in the Pfungstadt brewery.
On June 2nd, 1989 a visit to the German Meteorological Service in Offenbach had been arranged. The specialists spared no efforts to explain an abundance of technical devices. Despite the fact that showings had been discontinued a couple of years prior to our visit, a laudable exception had been made for our guests.
In the evening we celebrated Terry's 40th birthday in our party cellar which Terry baptised "Uli's Inn". Since then he addresses his letter post to this "pub", and as a matter of fact, it arrives.
Our guests left the following day, our mutual friendship had been intensified by their stay, and each of us looks forward to the next visit.Neuer Text