WALTHAM Forest was twinned with a German town 60 years ago to ‘mend the wounds of war’ - and now young people are being asked to keep the tradition alive.
Waltham Forest is twinned with Wansbek, a borough of Hamburg, with which many cultural exchanges have been made since the Wansbek Friendship Association was founded in Leyton in 1949.
91-year-old Vi Gosling is one of the group’s long-standing members and wants more people to get involved in order to keep the friendship alive.
She recalls that they were inundated with families offering to look after orphaned German children when they first visited Waltham Forest.
Explaining the arrangement, Mrs Gosling said: “It was founded to help mend the wounds of the war.
“We had an amazing response in 1950 when the first group of German children came over. More people offered accommodation than we had people.
“It was a great cultural exchange we would benefit because when we went to Wandsbek we saw much of Hamburg, so we became familiar with another city. It was very exciting.”
The association was started in 1949 by Elsie Pracey in Leyton, and for twenty years it was a twinned with Leyton, before becoming borough-wide.
Wandsbek was chosen by recommendation of Lord Reginald Sorensen, a former Leyton MP, as being a parallel town to Leyton.
On the 50th anniversary of the group, Waltham Forest received a group from Wansbek and together they made a special visit to No 10 Downing Street. Several existing Waltham Forest Councillors and the Mayor, have made visits to the town over the years.
Mrs Gosling said: “It was a great cultural exchange. We had youth groups, music performance and many contacts were made during that long period.
“I would like to remind people what we had and if anyone is interesting in helping to run it, we still have a number of good contacts over there.”
Cllr Patrick Smith, Higham Hill Ward, who was one of the councillors to visit Wansbek, said: “There have been many visits since it started, when the group outstretched its hand to orphaned Germans.
“The batton has been has been handed over to the next generation and if there are interested people in the borough who would like to get involved or host a family, they should get in touch.”
If you would like to get involved in the Wansbek Friendship Association, email mmacfarlane@london.newsquest.co.uk
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