Annual General Meeting

The 2005 Annual General Meeting took place at the Civic Offices, Reading on Tuesday 15 November.  The Mayor of Reading and President of the Association, Cllr Riaz Chaudri, was in the Chair.  

As well as the usual reports, we heard two interesting accounts of visits to Reading from Düsseldorf.  Sally Cairns talked about the Reading-Düsseldorf Churches Interchange, and Alison Coaker told us about the concert given jointly by the Reading Symphony Orchestra and the Orchester der Landesregierung.  

In his closing remarks, the Mayor illustrated the importance of knowing people through personal contact with a story about the Prophet Mohammed.

Barbecue

Our Barbecue took place on Saturday 23 July in  John and Regula Adams' garden.  About 40 members and friends were present, including the Mayor, Councillor Riaz Chaudhri, with the Mayoress.  The weather was a bit dull but we had a good time.

John Adams cooking, Philip Birch supervising

The Mayor and Mayoress with Erika Birch

Churches' Visit

The Reading-Düsseldorf Churches' Interchange received visitors from Düsseldorf churches from Saturday 9 July to Saturday 16 July 2005.  See pictures here.

Annual Dinner

The Annual Dinner this year was on Friday 29 April 2005 at the Loch Fyne Restaurant, Reading.  The Mayor and Mayoress of Reading were our guests.

Wine and Cheese Evening 

The annual Wine and Cheese Evening was held in the Kennet Room at the Civic Offices, Reading on Friday 18 March 2005.

Our guest this year was Dr Sikander Singh, who talked about Rewriting Romanticism - Heinrich Heine, his Life and his Works. Dr Singh is Lecturer in the German Department of the University of Darmstadt. He was born in Bonn/Bad Godesberg and lives in Düsseldorf. He obtained his Master of Arts in German, English, American and Canadian literature and received the PhD in German Literature from the University of Düsseldorf with a thesis on "Heinrich Heine and his Critics". He has been a Research Fellow at the Heinrich Heine Institute in Düsseldorf. His research interests focus on the literature of the 18th and early 19th century and questions of critical theory. At present he is working on an introduction to the life and works of Hermann Hesse.