News Archive
25/03/20"Message from Dr. Lukas Amadeus Schachner"
Dear friends in Antibes, Barnsley, Bethlehem, Faenza and Székesfehérvár,
Over the last few weeks we saw the worldwide spread of the Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. These times of global crisis are exceptional, and for this reason all of us feel a special connection to our fellow citizens. The news and pictures, especially from Italy, are particularly shocking. Germany and our Ostalb region are also in the process of reducing public life to an absolute minimum. For us as citizens and associations this means an almost complete standstill of social life. Two weeks ago we had our latest cinema evening with Made in Dagenham but now Verein Städtepartnerschaft will put on no further events for the foreseeable future. Our trip to Antibes, due to take place after Easter, had to be postponed indefinitely. Therefore it is all the more important during this time to communicate by telephone and electronically, to be at each other's side visibly and audibly. This is also very much the message of this letter. On behalf of the whole committee I want to assure you of our absolute solidarity and sympathy in these difficult days.
At the same time I would like to inform you about the outcome of our annual general meeting on 4. March, where the officers for our association were newly elected.
Please find below the names of the committee members for 2020-2022 and their respective duties:
Chairperson Lukas Amadeus Schachner
Vice Chair Robert Abzieher
Vice Chair Christoph Bertenrath
Secretary Clemens Weller
Treasurer Helmut Nägeli
Responsible
Antibes Rebekka Fauth
Barnsley Christoph Bertenrath
Bethlehem Lukas Amadeus Schachner
Faenza Lukas Amadeus Schachner
Székesfehérvár Uschi Stöhr
Committee Member David Sopp
Our email addresses: lastname@staedtepartnergmuend.de
What is new is that in the future I will be primarily responsible for fostering and developing the relationship with Faenza while Christoph will look after Barnsley. However, our perception of our roles is such that we will support each other in all matters. We are a great team! This means that Robert's heart will continue to beat for Faenza and mine for Barnsley in particular, albeit from the second row. I would be very happy if we could intensify our contacts soon, especially since mutual support is important these days, and I hope we can all come together in 2021 to celebrate a very special anniversary year. And, of course, we want to do everything in our power to collectively rejuvenate and further develop our twinning associations.
Below sources of information on the respective local situation:
Schwäbisch Gmünd: https://www.gmuender-tagespost.de/regional/schwaebisch- gmuend/
Barnsley: https://www.barnsleychronicle.com/article/we-now-offer-our-full- newspaper-online
Bethlehem: http://bethlehem.thelehighvalleypress.com/ Faenza: https://www.ravennanotizie.it/faenza/
Székesfehérvár: https://www.feol.hu/ bzw. https://hungarytoday.hu/ (English)
By the way: Our website www.staedtepartnergmuend.de is always up to date, despite Covid-19!
With many best regards on behalf of the Committee
Lukas Amadeus Schachner
