2009 German Youth Exchange

The German group from the Daun sports club in this year's youth exchange with Aylesbury Buckingham Street Youth Club had two surprises - the leaders and a present.

Three of the new leaders were themselves students on the exchange in earlier years, thereby strengthening the enduring continuity of the UK's longest running club-to-club youth exchange. The present was a framed copy of a page of the world's oldest surviving printed Bible. It was presented after morning service at Aylesbury Methodist Church to mark the completion of the redeveloped community centre. It now hangs in the new vestibule.

This Bible was first printed between 1452 and 1455 using a printing method invented by Johanes Gutenberg in Mainz, Germany. It is know n as the Gutenberg Bible or 42-line Bible as almost every page has 42 lines. It is printed in two columns of Latin in German Gothic type style. The copy presented was printed in the Gutenberg Museum using the same printing press method.

 Pictured right are Carolin Anschutz with her parents Bernd and Sabine and with Gorden Nickel. Bernd, Sabine and Gorden were all former youth exchange students in the 1980s. They are now the leaders themselves, taking over from Berhard and Beatrix Fochs who have led the German side of the exchange for the last twelve years.

On the British side, Vivien and Steve Kemp have taken over from Gill and Steve Marks who have also been involved for twelve years.

 This year's programme included visits to Brighton, Cotswold Wild Life Park,  Thorpe Park, Cadbury World and Selly Manor Museum Birmingham, Caldecotte Adventure Park Milton Keynes, a Thames River Cruise from Kew to the Tower of London (pictured left) followed by the Grease musical, shopping and punting in Oxford and the traditional  dinner and farewell concert on the last night. All this was interspersed with time with the host families.

The exchange started in 1963 and shows no sign of ending. A typical comment was from first-timer 14 year-old James Seed. "It was all good fun. My favourite day was the Wild Life Park in the Cotswolds. I'm looking forward to going to Germany on the return visit next year."