News and Obituaries
KDYT Husum Residential 2026.
KDYT were honoured to receive funding from Young Gloves Karate, The Margaret Westwood Memorial Charity, Kidderminster Twinning Association and donations from Charles Talbot family and friends to facilitate an amazing visit to Kidderminster’s Twin Town Husum, Germany.
Young people taking part in the visit were KDYT Young Leaders, many of whom have supported KDYT for a number of years and are soon to go onto higher education and employment. Young people were fully involved in the planning of the trip and ensuring that everything went to plan. Initially due to take place in Summer 2025, the visit was delayed until February half term 2026, due to passport issues and other commitments. We drove to Heathrow Airport, where a local hotel, hearing about the adventure, offered KDYT free parking for the minibus for the week, a very kind gesture.
We flew British Airways from Heathrow, for one young person this was their first ever flight and they enjoyed it considerably. On arrival in Hamburg young people realised why Youth Workers had consistently mentioned packing warm clothes and boots, with snow on the ground and a temperature of minus 6 degrees.
The drive from Hamburg to Husum was through heavy snowstorms and was exhilarating for everyone except Ben who was driving, we managed to book into the hotel and settled in for the evening.
The next day we were welcomed to Rathaus Husum (Husum Town Hall) where we met Bürgermeister, Martin Kindl, with Rainer Maas and Stefan Klocker from Husum twinning association, who officially welcome KDYT to Husum and spoke passionately about the history of the town and the importance of the twinning links. A large buffet breakfast, with pastries that will live in people’s minds forever, was followed by a tour of Husum given by Stefan, who showed the young people the historic and social fabric of this amazing town. That afternoon the young people were welcomed to BISS, Husum’s Youth Club. Young people from both clubs soon overcame their nerves and spent the afternoon, playing games (KDYT won the darts), creating music,taking part in activities, learning about each other, the things they had in common and things about living in Germany and England that were very different.
BISS carried on their fantastic hosting by providing the ingredients for dinner, which saw young people making their own pizzas, there were a lot of similarities, it would appear that pineapple on pizza is as controversial in Husum as it is in Kidderminster. One young person introduced a new concept to BISS, a barbecue pizza base, which was bravely sampled by Youth Leader Dennis, who admitted it was very tasty and not a bad idea at all.
The next day Rainer kindly took the group to Nordstrand, a peninsula on the North Sea. The weather was a bit warmer, only minus 2 degrees, and the snow created a landscape that was breathtaking and beautiful. We learnt about the history of Nordstrand and the nearby islands, we were also shown “Beltringharder Koog” an incredible system which safeguards 130,000 people from flooding during storm surges. We met the BISS young people and team next at ‘Fun Center Husum’, where they had kindly arranged for everyone to take part in a range of activities, including Blacklight Minigolf (Biss won) and Jump Valley Airpark, which included a timed inflatable obstacle course (Biss won but there were seconds in it!). Whilst at the centre we were visited by Bürgervorsteher, Robert Koch, Mayor of Husum who was really pleased to welcome KDYT to the town and said how important such links were.
Young people also had free time to visit the shops and sights of Husum, and we ate fantastic food at local restaurants.
We stayed at Altes Zollamt Hotel which provided a fantastic base, with clean rooms and a brilliant continental breakfast which had something for everyone, we won’t mention the youth workers name who had a three course breakfast every day! We also explored local hostels which could accommodate us on our next visit which we are planning for 2028.
Everyone we met in Husum were welcoming and rightly proud of their beautiful town, it became clear very quickly that they appreciate and value the Twinning with Kidderminster, which this year celebrates the 50th anniversary of the official signing of the Twinning Charter. We had a safe journey back to Hamburg with no snowstorms and the journey back from Heathrow was very quiet with everyone, except the driver, relaxing after a busy and totally amazing experience.
Young people told us that they had a fabulous time and enjoyed the experience and all the activities they took part in. They really loved their time in Husum with two young people saying they’d like to move there.
We were welcomed so warmly by the Town Council, Twinning Committee and the amazing team and young people at BISS, we instantly felt part of the community and what an amazing community it is. Young people were able to find ways to overcome language barriers, found common ground in music, arts and other activities and made new friends. We have a fantastic video of young people from both BISS and KDYT playing ‘Zombie’ by The Cranberries, on piano and guitar with another young person singing along, we felt this was particularly poignant as the founder of KDYT, Charles Talbot MBE, was instrumental to the Twinning with Husum and loved to play the guitar.
BISS are hoping to visit Kidderminster in 2027, and we hope this is the start of ongoing exchanges and friendship between the two youth centres.
KDYT are hugely grateful to the team and young people at BISS, Husum and Kidderminster Twinning Committees, Husum Town Council and all the funders and fundraisers that helped create this amazing experience for young people, without such support, life changing experiences like this simply cannot happen, thank you all!
A group of seven church members, from a variety of denominations in Kidderminster, visited Husum in June 2023. They were welcomed by a most hospitable group of hosts, from a variety of denominations, thus making a very acceptable ecumenical event.
In a full week of visits and outings the group enjoyed a mixture of experiences, both secular and sacred. For the four members of the group who had never been to Husum before, this was an opportunity to experience the unique geographical features of this part of Germany, as well as the warm welcome and excellent hospitality, which is always the trademark of our exchanges.
Among the experiences the group enjoyed were a visit to Hallig Hooge, travelling there by ship and around the Hallig by a horsedrawn carriage; a day at the Multimar Wattenforum Centre near Tönning; a tasting session at a local vineyard; visits to our hosts’ churches -Baptist, Catholic and Lutheran; a visit to a Food Bank and a Homeless Shelter, both run by the Church; a Bar-be-que; a visit to the Nissenhaus Museum; a mudflat walk in the Wadden Sea; a guided tour of Husum and of Schobüll; a guided tour of the Kloster, by the Wardens, Herr Rainer und Frau Eva Maaß and an organ recital in the Marienkirche. We were also officially welcomed by the Bürgermeister (Mayor); and at the weekly Market Church Service in the Marienkirche.
Our travel arrangements were from Manchester Airport to Billund in Denmark, which we found very satisfactory and we are now preparing to welcome a delegation of Husum church members to Kidderminster, next summer.
Heidy Hague
Churches Twinning Visit to Husum - June 2023.
Light Refreshment in Husum
Mudflat Walk in the Wadden Sea
In the Marien Kirche
In the Catholic Church
After a considerable delay of two years, due to COVID, and two ‘false starts’, the Churches Twinning of Kidderminster and Husum took place in June 2022. Five Hosts entertained seven Guests in Kidderminster for six days of activity; unfortunately, ill health prevented some Guests and Hosts fully participating at the last moment.
The first full day (Friday) involved a breakfast at Franche Community Church, where the full team met for the first time. This was followed by an official welcome at Kidderminster Town Hall, by the Mayor, and a tour of the Town Hall.
After this, a walk round Kidderminster was followed by a drive to Stourport and a walk around the town, with a generous lunch provided by Wesley Methodist Church in Stourport.
The group continued on to Bewdley, where after a walk around the town, they were entertained to afternoon tea at Bewdley Baptist Church. The day concluded with an organ recital at Milton Hall Baptist Church, Kidderminster and more tea and cake!!!
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On the last full day, the group did the ‘Wilden to Witley’ tour. The Wilden All
Saints Church is renowned for its complete Burne-Jones windows and other Pre-Raphaelite, Arts and Crafts, Baldwin and MacDonald Sisters treasures.
On Saturday, a full day on the Severn Valley Railway was appreciated, with a stop at the Engine House Visitor Centre. Seat reservations made the journeys much more enjoyable and a highlight was having a guided tour of the Royal Train at The Engine House, Highley, and travelling on the special Jubilee train.
On Sunday morning Hosts took Guests to their own churches for worship and then had most of the rest of the day at leisure. In the early evening Hosts and Guests met at Trinity Methodist Church for a joint Celebration Service, in which some Hosts and Guests participated.
The group were privileged to have an in-depth talk on the church and its contents before driving to Great Witley, where lunch had been prepared in the Garden Tea Rooms. Following this, a guided tour of the magnificent Great Witley Church and its Crypt was enjoyed and the final event of the visit was a Farewell Meal, generously provided by Trinity Methodist Church.
Kidderminster Husum Churches Twinning Visit 2022
On Sunday morning Hosts took Guests to their own churches for worship and then had most of the rest of the day at leisure. In the early evening Hosts and Guests met at Trinity Methodist Church for a joint Celebration Service, in which some Hosts and Guests participated.
On the last full day, the group did the ‘Wilden to Witley’ tour. The Wilden All
Saints Church is renowned for its complete Burne-Jones windows and other Pre-Raphaelite, Arts and Crafts, Baldwin and MacDonald Sisters treasures. The group were privileged to have an in-depth talk on the church and its contents before driving to Great Witley, where lunch had been prepared in the Garden Tea Rooms. Following this, a guided tour of the magnificent Great Witley Church and its Crypt was enjoyed and the final event of the visit was a Farewell Meal, generously provided by Trinity Methodist Church.
See the Civic Visit 2022, Click Here
The next day necessitated an early start for the Guests, who took an early flight back to Hamburg (via Munich!)
The feedback was that both Guests and Hosts thoroughly enjoyed this visit and are looking forward to a return visit in the future.
During the period of COVID and up to the actual visit, the two Groups met via Zoom, bi-monthly, and the Kidderminster Team met for breakfast bimonthly, in the latter half of the planning.
The Organisers, Richard and Heidy Hague, with their Husum counterpart, Stefan Klocker, would like to thank all those involved, in any way, for making this visit such an enjoyable experience.
Heidy Hague.
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