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Celebrating
IPA Nuremberg
60th Anniversary
Yvonne and David McGregor
In August 2017, 28 IPA Members from Nuremberg, Germany visited Scotland for a whisky tour and to attend
the Military Tattoo. As Branch Secretary for Tayside, I arranged to meet them at their Hotel in Kinross. During
the evening I exchanged gifts with their Branch Secretary, Bernd Wirth, and he mentioned that they were
having their Branch 60th anniversary in a few months’ time. A few weeks later, to our surprise, an Invitation
arrived asking us to attend their weekend celebrations with proviso that David wore his IPA Tartan kilt during
their event.
O
n Thursday, 12 October we flew from Edinburgh
, via Frankfurt,
to Nuremberg where Bernd was waiting with the IPA Welcome
board. We were taken by Bernd and his wife Lisa for a walk round
the old city by night. It is a city in Franconia located on the Rivers Pegnitz
and Main. We dined at a local German pub where I had a traditional meal
of Bratwurst Goulash and David had roast pork with potato dumplings, both
were delicious.
The celebrations started on Friday evening and with Bernd and the IPA
members busy with the arrangements, it allowed us free time to walk in
the city. The old part of the city is surrounded by a wall. We discovered that
there was a market on with a large number of portable stalls, the majority
being associated with fish. There were also fairground rides and other
entertainment. After a long walk through the streets of the old town on a
very warm and sunny day we could not resist purchasing a fish lunch and a
very welcome cold local beer.
After getting ready for the celebrations we headed for the venue, which
was a restored 400 year old grain store, about a 5 minute walk from our
Hotel. As instructed, David wore his IPA kilt and got a few strange looks as
we made our way to the event. Champagne was offered on arrival and we
were introduced to many IPA Members from the local Branch, neighbouring
Branches and Austria, as well as some local dignitaries. Their Chairman and
Treasurer are serving officers and attended in their uniform and one woman
was in Traditional Dress. The band who provided the entertainment were all
serving police officers.
During the evening Members were presented with their 20 and 50 year
certificates but the highlight was when a founder member was presented
with his 60 year certificate, a fantastic achievement.
I presented the Chairman, Thomas Schubert, with a Section UK Pennant and
a personal gift of an IPA engraved Quaich with a miniature of whisky. We had
a very enjoyable evening and made many new friends.
The celebrations continued on Saturday and we were informed it was a wine
tasting, starting at 2pm. We had envisaged small tasting glasses with a few
dry biscuits, but how wrong could we have been as the wine was served in
very large wine glasses and we enjoyed some excellent local food prepared
and served by the wives of some members. The entertainment was provided
by a duo of local musicians playing traditional German music, with many of
those in attendance, singing and dancing until 9pm.
On Sunday morning Bernd had arranged a guided walking tour of the city
by an IPA Member, Willie Dietz. In a very pleasant 22 degrees we had
an amazing day, visiting Churches, Houses and the Castle which gives
a panoramic view of the City as it is built on the highest point of a very
flat open plain. We learned a lot of the local history and saw the major
restoration of buildings that had been carried out following the devastation
caused during World War II. The 5 kilometre wall round the city is still intact,
apart from about 1km, has many towers and each one is identified by a
letter and as there are so many towers they use 4 different colours for the
letters. It is a very unique identification system. At 1pm we arrived at Black
F tower, which is where the IPA Office is situated. It is a round tower in the
wall. We entered and climbed the spiral staircase to an open plan office on
the first floor, on the second floor is a bar and kitchen area. All the walls are
displaying IPA memorabilia from all over the World.
POLICE WORLD
Vol 63 No. 1, 2018
Article
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