Our partner band the Harmonie Bédarcienne

Our contacts to the band of Bédarieux have been existing since fourteen years. We paid our first visit to France in 1986. One year later the French musicians visited us in Germany for the first time.

In the beginning the contacts were rather reserved and cautious. But with the years and after further mutual visits the contacts became more and more opened and personal. Finally we signed a document of friendship in 1993.

In 1995 as partner band the Harmonie Bédarcienne celebrated our 150th anniversary with us and in 1998 we were in France on the occasion of their 110th anniversary.

In 1999 we used the visit of the French as opportunity to join together in the parade of "Leutkirch's Kinderfest"( Children's Festival ). There we appeared as a joint group which was the expression of a true friendship.

On the part of the Harmonie Bédarcienne there are three persons, who have particularly contributed to the development of our contacts. These are President André Claveria, the former President and Conductor Albert Galtier and the current Conductor Serge Romia.

Bédarieux is situated in the South of France in the department Hérault with its capital Montpellier. The mediterranean is 35km from Bédarieux and we already went to the sea for several times and swam there. Even in October some of us dared to go into the water and obviously didn't shiver with cold - to our French friends´ amazement.

It's a wine-growing area and there is very little industry. Therefore many youths leave Bédarieux after school to go somewhere else to study or to look for a job. Unfortunately this means for the Harmonie Bédarcienne that many youngsters leave the occasion after their education. Nevertheless the Harmonie Bédarcienne takes intensive care of promoting the recruitment of youths and they even have two youth bands.

In the Harmonie Bédarcienne there are approximately forty musicians even including some professional musicians. They meat every Saturday evening for a rehearsal. During the year they give some concerts in the surroundings, play on parties or on other occasion. Because of their president's very good contacts to other bands, they often have the opportunity of playing together with other groups.

Since some years they have had theit own room for their rehearsal, in which there is also a little office. We too celebrated some parties together there. We are always given a very warm welcome by our host families and are superbly looked after, and after a few glasses of French red wine or German beer we are all speaking the same language. Last but not least music is the bond that overcomes all boarders and barriers.

We hope that this friendship will last forever !

(Translation from Mr. Alfred Sipple)