Visits

Visitors from Russian embassy

18 January 2020

On Saturday 18 January 2020, a group of 33 adults and children from the Russian Embassy in London, came to Coventry. They visited the Cathedral; the Peace and Reconciliation Room in the Herbert Art Gallery; had a welcome from Councillor Khan in the Council House (with a buffet); saw the new Volgograd Memorial and finally visited the Transport Museum. They were also treated to a performance of the Lady Godiva Story by Pru Porretta. She was ably assisted by some of the Russian children.

26 October 2019

The Volzhanochka Dance Group from Volgograd received a warm welcome in the Council House today from The Lord Mayor, Linda Bigham.

Support For Young Artists (Dresden)

16 October 2019

During late September and early October, we have been pleased to support young film makers, a dancer and a visual artist, Lucas Oertal from Dresden.

Our Friends From Vannes Visit Coventry

In August, we welcomed 16 friends from our friendship town of Vannes in Brittany. They spent 3 days in London, accompanied by 6 members of CAIF and then 5 nights in Coventry hosted by our members. A full programme of visits, including a day in Cambridge were enjoyed despite the inclement weather.

Councillor Abdul Khan gave them a warm reception in the Council House and Paul Curtis and Lord and Lady Godiva gave them a city tour and a performance about the History of Coventry. The group treated an audience to group singing at a Multi-Cultural Day, organised by the Godiva Lions. We had a social evening, courtesy of the Queen’s Rd Baptist Church.

CAIF Visit to Kiel and Leipzig

In June, 9 CAIF members visited Leipzig with friends from Kiel. We enjoyed a tour of the City and a concert of music by Bach as it was the week of BACHFEST. There was a warm atmosphere in the streets with many student musicians displaying their talent. We then returned to Kiel , where we were hosted by our friends enjoying their wonderful hospitality and getting to know Kiel and its environs.

Visit of a Choir from Dresden

On Saturday June 1st we enjoyed a concert in the Cathedral given by the Coventry Spires Choir and a visiting choir from Dresden that included our friend and contact Rainer. They were accompanied by the Coventry Spires Philharmonic orchestra. A full audience, including the Lord Mayor Linda Bigham, appreciated the professional quality of the performance. 

Coventry-Volgograd

15 May 2019

We celebrate 75 years of twinning with Volgograd this year and 35 years after I went with a group from Sidney Stringer School to perform “The Little Match Girl”, I make a presentation in the Russian Cultural Centre, Kensington, London.

Serbian Ambassador

14 May 2019

CAIF members met Aleksandra Joksimovic, Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia, who was visiting Coventry along with Mr. Vladimir Disovic, Deputy Head of Mission and Mr. Veljko Jelenkovic, Third Secretary on Friday 10th May. They were with Slavica, who organised this tour of The Herbert Art Gallery with a special viewing of a painting of Belgrade by Milorad Bata Mihailovic.

Visitors From Dresden

15 January 2019

From 6-10 October, a small party from Dresden came to Coventry as guests primarily of the Coventry German Circle. CAIF, along with the Queen’s Road Baptist Church, both having links with Dresden were happy to support this visit with hosting and social meetings. Tours of the Cathedral, city Centre and meals out were enjoyed by both visitors, hosts and friends. A successful visit, which will continue to grow.

Visit To Meschede

15 September 2018

Eight members of CAIF recently returned from a week-long visit to our friendship town of Meschede in Sauerland, Germany.

Along with a group of our Breton friends, we celebrated the Meschede group’s 50 Years of International Friendship. We visited Monasteries, Museums and Factories and enjoyed several social occasions with plenty of food and good German beer.

A wonderful week that strengthened our links with both Meschede and Vannes.

Visitors From Kiel

17 June 2018

Several members of CAIF travelled to Bath to meet up with longtime friends from Kiel, who are spending a few days in Bath and Bristol. Four of the Kielers will come to Coventry on Wednesday to meet old friends Allan and John. 

Visit To Vannes

8 members of CAIF had a most enjoyable visit to Vannes from 29 June- 6 July this year. As always, our hosts were kind and generous and treated us to the following programme of interesting and scenic trips out.

Thursday 29 : A mini bus will pick the travellers up in Nantes at 16 h 30

Friday 30 : Visit to Carnac , Locmariaquer

Saturday 1er : Auray , St Goustan , Ste Avoye , Le Bono

Sunday 2 : with the family with a picnic at Josselin

Monday 3 : La Gacilly , Rochefort en Terre

Thursday 4 : Ile d’ Arz and party near the river

Wednesday 5 : Vannes market, meeting the Deputy Mayor for a presentation and after a group lunch, a tour of Vannes. Guided tour of Vannes in English on afternoon and “apéro dinatoire” at Conleau

Thursday 6: départure at 8h30 to Nantes

There were many social occasions and pique-niques that only the French can do!

Our ties of friendship are stronger than ever.

Visitor From Dresden

17 May 2017

We met Claudia from our twin city of Dresden on Monday evening. She is a journalist and initiates monthly meetings to speak English and learn about Coventry. She is keen to strengthen the links between us.

Dominique’s Visit

12 May 2017

This week, February 16th – 21st we welcomed Dominique Mareille from our Vannes Association who expressed a wish to come to us because she was interested in practising her English before she takes an Aural examination in April.

During her time here she has been hosted by Pat and Allan, who have hosted Dominique in the past. Pat arranged with the committee and with her choir members, a week of local experiences.

Her visit included speaking with our President Lord Mayor Cllr Lindsley Harvard and visiting the Council House, the Herhert Art Gallery and the Transport Museum with Cllr Ram Lakha and Lady Godiva, Pru Poretta. ( see Photos in the Gallery)

In addition, she has also been taken round Coventry with Pru Porretta and given a tour of Coventry Cathedral. She has visited Warwick and the Castle, walked all round Kenilworth and been to the Book Farm, Coventry, with its thousands of books inEnglish, taken to Birmingham to hear a cinvert with two of our members. She will be taking our best wishes to our Vannes friends shortly. The group have been invited to Vannes and have accepted their kind offer.

The date of our visit is June 29th for one week. We look forward to that event very much knowing how kind and interesting our Celtic friends are.

We are a group who seek to promote international friendship and understanding.

Dresden Frauenkirche

14 November 2016

Ten members of the Dresden Frauenkirche were guests of the Friends of Coventry Cathedral from 10-15 November during Peace Month. 3 CAIF members were invited to join them for Sunday Lunch and to see a slide show of the new Frauenkirche in Dresden, which is now 10 years old.

Bologna Visit

27 May 2016

Nine members visited the beautiful twin city of Bologna , Italy from 17-24 May 2016. The main purpose of the visit was to re-ignite this link and to establish contact with the Mayor. The process was started here in Coventry by John Moore who made a link with Silvia Sassu in the Economic Development Dept of the city of Bologna. She proved to be not only charming in person but extremely helpful with organising our meeting with the Deputy Mayor and an introduction to a local choir, which might lead to a future exchange. Gifts and kind words were exchanged.

The rest of the week was spent sighteeing, visiting galleries, museums, churches, cafés and restaurants. Some of the group visited Verona whilst others went to Modena.

The warmth of our reception was matched by the warmth of the weather. A good time was had by all.

Bologna Talk

14 February 2016

On the evening of 11 February, in the Council House, 20+ members and friends enjoyed a talk on Bologna by Martin Yarnit. Accompanied by a slideshow, cheese and pignoletto wine, this lively and interesting talk on the culture, heritage, food and drink of this twin city whetted the appetite for our visit in May. 

Meschede Comes To Coventry

13 October 2015

We are pleased to report that our friends from Meschede enjoyed their week with us. A full programme saw them visiting our very own award winning Transport Museum; the Cathedral; St Mary’s Guildhall and Council Chambers; the Black Country Museum; Oxford and Stratford upon Avon. Some of them even fitted in visits to London and Birmingham!

Our Lord Mayor, Michael Hammon, gave them a very warm reception and a buffet was provided, coupled with a photo opportunity in Meschede Way. This was a very enjoyable meeting with words of mutual friendship and understanding exchanged.

Our final evening, together, took place in the Polish Club with both food and entertainment from the 2 choirs:- Sensa Nome and the Nightingales. Our thanks go to our Polish friends for their friendly and generous welcome. See our Gallery for photos from the week.

Visiting Speaker

29 May 2015

At this year’s AGM , which took place on May 21 2015, we were privileged to hear a talk on the rôle of British Nurses in WW1 across Europe, particularly Serbia. Our speaker, Zvezdana Popovic has researched extensively on the topic after finding that little has been published about these unsung heroines. A senior librarian at Kensington and Chelsea Library and a History teacher by profession, she had her interest piqued as a child when she saw the names of British Nurses in a Museum in Serbia. This was a fascinating insight into the lives of thousands of women volunteers on the frontline. More can be learnt at this website.

www.scottishwomenshospitals.co.uk

Zvezdana has spoken in schools, libraries and churches in London. See photographs of an exhibition she held in St Sava’s, the Serbian church.

Our visitors from Vannes

1 September 2014

…The first three days of the visit were spent in London, the group arriving at St Pancras International station on the Eurostar train at 12.30 on Tuesday…

On Wednesday (hopefully newly refreshed after a reasonably good night’s sleep) everyone had had their breakfast in time for us to leave International House by 09.00 and we went to the river (Thames) again and walked the river walk, opposite the Houses of Parliament, to Westminster Bridge, which we crossed, in order to see the Parliament Buildings, Parliament Square (in which there are statues of famous statesmen from British History) and Westminster Abbey. We didn’t go into any of these buildings but we did go into the Supreme Court, which I had never been into before and which I think the group found interesting.

…

After lunch there was a period of free time when some of the group visited the National Gallery (of Art) while others walked up to see Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus, Soho or Chinatown. Re-assembled, we walked to the British Museum, with the main intention of seeing the Rosetta Stone (which you may know was deciphered by a frenchman, Champollion). The Museum is not too far away from the pub, “The Perseverance”, and we again ate our evening meal there, a very tasty, lamb casserole followed by a chocolate mousse made by a specialist chocolatier!

A large number of the group wanted to walk back from Bloomsbury to the residence in Lambeth but Simone returned on the tube with Mary as it would have been too much for her, I think. The rest of us walked back (about one hour) which gave the group the opportunity to see London and the river bank by night which was quite a sight.

…

The first day in Coventry (Friday) started at 10.00 with a visit to see the remains of the very oldest cathedral building in Coventry followed by a visit to the Town Hall for a meeting with the city’s mayor, this year a woman. After speeches from all sides and a small buffet, we moved off to a local country park for a pique-nique. We were lucky to have finished eating before it started to rain but it wasn’t too much and a number of the group chose to take a walk through the wooded paths of the park and visited a bird-watching hide, rather like the ones that we had visited at Séné during our visit to Vannes in July. Friday evening was spent at a church hall in Coventry where we enjoyed a meal together and we did some singing…

Sunday was free day with hosts and in the evening, we assembled together again at the house of Pat Trickett for drinks, a small buffet and more singing. As I have learnt to play on my guitar the Breton song “La Blanche Hermine” and the Renaud song “La Ballade Nord- Irlandaise”, I enjoyed myself joining in with Jean-François !

And so our visit was complete ! I must say that it was a great pleasure to spend our time in the company of the Breton group who conducted themselves at all times in a disciplined and reliable way. I’m sure that we have confirmed our friendships even more deeply than before as a result of spending this time together and we look forward to meeting again.