Thursday 10th January 2019 - Games Abend

We’ll keep the festive spirit going at our next meeting on Thursday January 10th with party games and activities in German/English.

Besides old favourites such as Suchen Sie jemanden, den.. / Find someone, who…: Tabu/Taboo and StadtLandGenuss/Words of a letter, we’ve got new language games Alibi/Fishy Stories and Finde den Bluff/Call my bluff kindly provided by Irmgard.

We’ll round things off with a showing of the Freddie Frinton comedy sketch “Dinner for One” (This fixture of German New Year’s Eve TV since 1972 is finally getting its first UK TV screening this Christmas Eve.)

Thursday 7th February 2019 - Reflections on Hamburg - Irmgard Ralf

Thursday 7th March 2019 -  

KARNEVAL IN KÖLN UND DIE MAINZER FASTNACHT

(Carnival traditions in Cologne and Mainz)

WALTER UND CLIVE

Helau und Alaaf! It’s carnival time and at our next meeting, Walter and Clive will be explaining to us (from personal experience) how it’s celebrated in Germany’s carnival capitals of Cologne and Mainz.

In this crazy season, aka die fünfte Jahreszeit, is it really true that women can snip off men's ties and it's OK to kiss a policeman? Was a bank robbery once really carried out by a robber dressed up as a carnival fool?

Come along on Thursday, March 7th, and find out! (And please bring a raffle prize, too.),

 Following Irmgard's moving presentation last month about her home city of Hamburg comes a film, THE AFTERMATH, set in postwar Germany in 1946. Rachael Morgan (Keira Knightley) arrives in the ruins of Hamburg in the bitter winter, to be reunited with her husband Lewis (Jason Clarke), a British colonel charged with rebuilding the shattered city. But as they set off for their new home, Rachael is stunned to discover that Lewis has made an unexpected decision: They will be sharing the grand house with its previous owners, a German widower (Alexander Skarsgård) and his troubled daughter. In this charged atmosphere, enmity and grief give way to passion and betrayal. In cinemas from March 1st.

Thursday 4th April 2019 - ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Thursday 2nd May 2019 - HOW TO MAKE A RUMTOPF 

Lesley started off her Rumtopf with strawberries, sugar and special 54% rum.

Over the summer, she'll be layering different fruit, sugar and topping up with rum

in time for us to sample at our Adventabend in December.

Thursday 6th June 2019 - VISIT OF STOKE & GERMAN FOOTBALLERS

Thursday 4th July 2019 -  MUSICAL & GRILLABEND

No meeting in August - Enjoy a break!

Thursday 12th September 2019 - ALL ABOUT PILATES

In the first half, we’ll do a bilingual exploration of his remarkable life, spent, among other places, in Liverpool and the Isle of Man.

In the second half, the much sought-after Pilates tutor Avis Hopkins from Gnosall near Stafford will give us a very gentle introduction to some of the exercises.

Thursday 3rd October 2019 - LIVING IN THE GDR

Christine and Insa will relate their experiences

Thursday 7th November 2019 - DIE BERLINER MAUER

On the 30th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Bryan will talk about the origins, structure and demise of the wall, recounting a business visit to Berlin in 1985 and a revisit in 2018. 

Thursday 5th December 2019 - ADVENTABEND

Brush up your craft skills and experience the preparations for Weihnachten

OUR MEETINGS FOR 2018

Thursday 4th January 2018  -    Games Abend - Party games - may include games such as                                                  Anagrams in English & German. Find out how to play SKAT and                                              revise knowledge of Canasta. Also the "Konfessionen", a party                                              game inspired by entries made by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

Thursday 1st February 2018 -    Erlangen themed Evening Club members with Erlangen                                                    connections (Irmgard. Lesley, Marian and Clive) to co-ordinate                                              contributions on Stoke's twin city

Thursday 1st March 2018          WEINPROBE - CANCELLED DUE TO SEVERE WEATHER

                                                    RE-ARRANGED FOR 7TH JUNE 2018

Thursday 5th April 2018                             ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

                                                          MIT KAFFEE UND KUCHEN!!

Thursday 3rd May 2018 -          Kaefer themed evening Based on the word-play '(Mai)Kaefer                                              and Beetle, the evening will include a VW Beetle drive devised by                                          Bryan & Christine. Bryan will also contribute a short VW related                                              piece

Thursday 7th June 2018             RE-ARRANGED WEINPROBE EVENING

Thursday 5th JuLY 2018              BBQ with music by /Grillabend mit Musik

Full details on the Grillabend Web page

August 2018                                     NO MEETING

                                                            HOWEVER!

Irmgard has a  suggestion for an outing to Manchester to have lunch at a German-style restaurant. It's called 'Albert's Schloss' in Peter Street, near Deansgate, central Manchester.

They have Bierkeller-type benches on one side and a dining area on the other. Irmgard has been there herself and enjoyed some of its vegetarian starters (alpine chevre and beet hummus) and understands that the various types of Hauswurst (made locally) are excellent too.

Please click here for page 1 of a sample lunchtime menu. For page 2 of the menu, please click here.

As there's no meeting in August, we thought it would be nice to have the outing then. Irmgard has suggested Saturday, 4th or Saturdy, 11th August for an early lunch.

For more information and an amusing review by Jay Rainer, go to albertsschloss.co.uk. If you're interested, please email Irmgard direct at irmgardralfs@yahoo.co.uk.

Viele Grüße,

 Irmgard

Thursday 6th September 2018        A GERMAN GIRL IN A BRITISH WORLD

                                         Short talk + quiz.  

Thursday 4th October 2018           BIER UND WURST ABEND

Walter Bridge discusses the history of German Beer 

&

Insa Winkelbrandt explains the different types of Wurst

Thursday 1st November 2018        War and Peace

German and British 20th century history as experienced by my family, my acquaintances and a German artist.

Thursday 6th December 2018        Christmas Themes with Rev Terry Bloor

and crafting with Jane Mosby

Previous 2017/16 &15 events are also shown

2017 MEETING CALENDAR

Thursday 5th January 2017 -      Mystery Parcel Event

Thursday 2nd February 2017 -    LATE CHANGE - Quiz Abend!

Thursday 2nd March 2017 -        Weinproebe

Thursday 6th April 2017 -          Annual General Meeting followed a talk by Walter Bridge on his                                               German Ancestry

Thursday 4th May 2017 -           Spargel Abend

Thursday 1st June 2017 -           Cafe Culture

Thursday 6th July 2017 -            Grillabend mit Musik

Thursday 3rd August 2017 -       No Meeting - Urlaubs!!

Thursday 7th September 2017-  German Bundestag Elections - Simon Johl

Thursday 5th October 2017 -      500 years after the German Reformation – in the steps of Martin Luther

                                                         Terry Bloor   

Thursday 2nd November 2017 - Christine will run a bi-lingual activity about the Bauhau ceramicist Grete Marks, a                                                             Nazi refugee who briefly worked in Stoke-on-Trent. This will be followed by an                                                               art workshop led by local artist Debbie Windsor

Thursday 7th December 2017 -  Adventabend: The usual format with paper folding and Weihnachtslieder by                                                             Jacqui & Jane, Advent reflections by Irmgard Ralf, Gospel reading by Walter                                                                    Bridge & Insa Winkelbrandt will demonstrate making a Feuerzangenbowle

These were also some additional events outside of the meetings during 2017

April - Pensioners from Erlangen are visiting the area 

Saturday 17th June -       Marion will lead an Orienteering Experience on Cannock Chase

Saturday 22nd July -        An escorted walking tour around Manchester

Sunday 24th September-  Visit to the Tate Gallery, Liverpool: Portraying a Nation: Germany 1919 - 1933

                                      See information on the Home page of this website

Sunday 12th November - Remembrance Sunday 1200 on Cannock Chase - German Military Cemetery

2016 MEETING CALENDAR

Thursday 7th January 2016 - Mystery Parcel Event

Thursday 4th February 2016 - The German Social Work Model

Thursday 3rd March 2016 - Weinproebe

Thursday 7th April 2016 - Annual General Meeting

Thursday 5th May 2016 - Bilingual Language Games

Thursday 2nd June 2016 - Sing-Song Evening

Thursday 7th July 2016 - Grill Abend with German Food

Thursday 4th August 2016 - No Meeting - Urlaubszeit!!!

Thursday 1st September 2016 - German Learning Workshop

Thursday 6th October 2016 - Presentation by DoE candidates on their experience and history of DoE

Thursday 3rd November 2016 - Revisiting Learning Language techniques with Slow German

Thursday 1st  December 2016 - Adventabend

2015 MEETING CALENDAR

Thursday 8th January 2015 - Germany Quiz

Thursday 5th February 2015 - The Great German Bake-off

Thursday 5th March 2015 - Weinproebe

Thursday 2nd April 2015 - AGM

Thursday 7st May 2015

Thursday 4th June 2015

Thursday 2nd July 2015

Thursday 6th August 2015

Thursday 3rd September 2015

Thursday 1st October 2015 - Quiz Evening

Thursday 5th November 2015 - The History of Rolls-Royce

Thursday 3rd December 2015 - Adventabend

Occasionally, we share some German food together.

Please let us know the Monday before the next meeting, if you would like to join us for the meal.