Beginnings

We started our club in 1988 as the Ilkley Anglo-German Friendship Society. In our 10th anniversary year we changed our name to Wharfedale German Circle (WGC), as this better reflected our membership area.

From our initial partnerships with Detmold and Nordhausen, through firm friendships with families in Dortmund and Minden, to our continued contact with young people throughout Germany, we have been successful in forging and maintaining links.

 

Teutonic Links

We are very proud of our research project into Otley's "Teutonic Links", in particular the prisoner-of-war camp that was there. Thanks to the efforts of two WGC members, who interviewed former internees and their families, we presented a large archive of information, artefacts, photographs and paintings to the Second World War Experience Centre in Horsforth and to Otley Museum.

Click here for a copy of the walk in Otley .

 

Our other past successes include:

• Contributing to the Dresden Trust during the reconstruction of the Frauenkirche, which we subsequently visited.
• Funding a Travel Award for local school students and events for foreign students in our local area.
• Holding large-scale events such an Oktoberfest and a Viennese Café and having a stall at Otley Victorian Fayre to sell Glühwein and Stollen.