This year marks a very special anniversary in our relationship with the Martinus Gymnasium in Linz am Rhein. For the 25th time a party of L5 and M5 boys travelled to the Rhineland. 20 in all made the journey with Mr and Mrs Phillips and Frau Weiler.
As usual our Linz colleagues took a great deal of trouble in devising an interesting and varied programme and the boys appreciated the efforts made on their behalf. The atmosphere was light hearted and a week of unbroken sunshine and warm weather made life on the excursions much easier as free time could be enjoyed outdoors. Everyone enjoyed ice-skating and many were offered swimming as well as a day at a theme park. Both teachers and students alike received the customary generous hospitality. One student was taken to see Germany play football against Belgium and one student was taken as far as München,
For 3 mornings we attended normal classes in school, including a lesson given by Herr Lehnard on the German school system. Some of our students were invited to listen to special presentations in English made by the beginners' class and subsequently gave an entertaining account of life at our school. As usual we were invited to a reception in the Town Hall and on this occasion we were presented with the "History of Linz", a gift from the Mayor to mark the 25th celebrations. The usual matches of mixed Football, Badminton and Table Tennis were augmented by Basketball and Hockey in the Sports Hall with both national and multinational teams. Later on there was an opportunity to show off some Rugby skills in the Rhine Park in Bonn.
The excursions provided us with a good mix of geography, history and action. In Bonn we were taken to the Museum of Modern (post-war) History, designed to be a constant reminder of the dangers of extremism and dictatorship. The guided tour began in a bombed out cellar, where poignant film, sound archive material and remnants of destruction provided a shocking likeness to the current situation in the Middle East. Our Polish guide involved the students in reading out or demonstrating from the interactive displays and focused particularly on the Cold War, German Reunification and European Unity. A day was spent in the volcanic Eifel region and we were taken to a number of spectacular sites including a pumice quarry and a bubbling crater lake to see evidence of past and present activity. Our final destination was the Nürburgring track and "Motor-racing World", where we enjoyed the thrills and spills of the racetrack, experiencing Formula 1 rides for ourselves.
I cannot over-emphasise the value of this long-standing link between our schools and was pleased at the number of students who were prepared to make an effort to understand what was going on and to reply in German, however haltingly. Evidence in class afterwards shows that such students have subconsciously absorbed a great deal of vocabulary, as well as improving their speaking and listening skills. E-mail has become a popular point of contact between partners before we go and makes keeping in touch afterwards so much easier.
In the meantime the German exchange party is set to visit us this summer from 1-11 September, accompanied by Herr Bernd Lehnard and Frau Karin Keelan. We are hoping to invite the former Head Herr Mohr, founder of the exchange and his 2 deputies, also long-term exchange leaders, to celebrate 25 years with us for the weekend 4/5 September. We are planning a Chapel service and a reception afterwards. Finally I must express my thanks to Claudia Weiler and my husband for their cheerful and enthusiastic support throughout the exchange and send a final word of thanks to our German hosts for their hard work on our behalf, bringing students from the two very similar countries and cultures together.
Marguerite Phillips April 2004
Linzer Gallerie
Click on the photos to see a larger, clearer version !
1. Rheinblick 
über Linz
2.Gruppe am
Rathaus.
3.Rathaus 
Empfang
4. Rheinfähre
zur Sportstunde.
5.In der
Schule !
6.Wir spielen Rugby 
bei Klasse 5.
7Gruppe 
Maria Laach.
8. Der neue 
Jensen Button.
9. Basketball 
England gegen Deutschland.
10.Beim 
Eislaufen.
JOHN BENNS - Founder of the Linz Exchange
1997 marked the last visit to Linz by Mr Benns and he was thanked by the Head Master of the Martinus Gymnasium for his contributions to this most successful exchange.
And here are a few links for
Linz
Leitseite des Martinus
Gymnasiums Rheinland-Pfalz
Here are a few more useful
German links, which we have used:
Deutsche Bundesbahn
Wie
fhrt man mit der Bahn ?
Die
Wetterlage in Deutschland
Die
Wetterprognose in Deutschland
Die Welt - eine
deutsche Tageszeitung
Focus
Other
European Press from Albania to Sweden via Germany