The British Day in Krefeld Uerdingen on 20^th July 2025

The day didn’t start well.  When Margaret and I arrived at Uerdingen market place to set up our stand, we were greeted by Frank Langen, the organiser of the event, who asked us if we’d brought a table and chairs with us.  We unfortunately hadn’t as we’d assumed they would be provided (we’ll know better next year!) and panicked a bit as we’d brought brochures, newsletters, some BWC cards and they wouldn’t have looked good displayed on the ground!  Thankfully Frank took pity on us and found us a very small camping table but as there were no spare chairs, Margaret and I took turns during the day to have a sit down at the nearby café on the square, which was a good excuse to order delicious plum cake with cream!

 

The British Day in Krefeld Uerdingen was set up to celebrate the revival of the twinning of Uerdingen with the city of Leicester. A very talented choir from the University of Leicester was visiting Uerdingen for 5 days and had performed the night before at St. Peter’s church there.  We were lucky that the choir had several slots during the day when they performed to a very high standard.

 

We were also treated to several sessions of Dudelsack and Highland music performed by a group called the Amazing Piperazzi.  What a fun name and great music!

The other stands included a British fudge stand, a Whiskey stand with an impressive selection of special whiskeys, a book and British snacks stand run by the bookshop and café Rheinschmökern, where some ladies from the club enjoyed a brunch and a browse a couple of months ago.  There was also a darts stand from a local club, a highland games’ stand (that is Frank Langen’s special hobby), and another stand showing the history of the Highland clans and in particular about the Donald clan.

Throughout the day, Frank introduced the various participants and did a question and answer session. Margaret and I were very relieved when Dee Dorbach arrived, who said she was very happy to go on the stage and talk about the club.  Not surprisingly, she did this marvellously – she’s a real pro on a stage with a microphone!

Although there weren’t a huge number of people there, we did have quite a few people visiting our stand and asking about the club.  Quite a few ladies took brochures with them and will hopefully contact us again.

Later in the day, we had a visit from Margot, who brightened us up as by that that we were feeling a bit weary.

We even managed to sell some BWC Xmas cards despite the hot and sticky day! Just as we were packing up to go, there was a very dramatic storm.  Margaret and I just manged to get our stand dismantled and the brochures and cards safely in the car before the torrential rain started, which turned the roads into rivers. We had quite a difficult journey back to Duisburg but that’s another story!