NEARLY 50 years ago, a German teacher who wanted to unite people after the Second World War threw out the hand of friendship to Britain to see if he could find a school to partner with for pupil exchanges.

The only person to respond to Fritz Pratschke’s request was Ken Loates, who taught German at the then Ardwyn Grammar School in Aberystwyth.

This link-up led to thousands of pupils taking part in exchange trips between Aberystwyth and Kronberg, a picturesque town just south of Frankfurt.

But it wasn’t until nearly 30 years later, in 1997 – again thanks to the determination of Herr Pratschke and then Aberystwyth mayor Carol Kolczak – that Aberystwyth was officially twinned with Kronberg.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Since then, the Cambrian News has published dozens of stories about the twinning – but I am embarrassed to say that I had never visited our twin town.

This omission was corrected earlier this month when I travelled to Kronberg at the invitation of the twinning association to take part in 20th anniversary celebrations.

Along with members of the twinning association, also taking part in the trip were Aberystwyth’s mayor Steve Davies and mayoress Linda Hughes, former mayors John James and Brendan Somers, and bandmaster Alan Phillips with members of his Junior Brass Band, who entertained at several functions over the weekend.

Coincidentally, there was a wine festival in the town on that same weekend – so there was opportunity to put the quality of German wines to the test!

I was only in Kronberg for three nights but, boy, a lot was crammed into the long weekend.

See this week’s south editions for the full feature, in shops and online on Wednesday