History
A brief history of the Partnership
One of the things that makes the partnership between Great Barford and Wöllstein so special is the fact that it had its beginnings during the war and is based on the contact between German POWs and the local British inhabitants.
Football played a very important role as matches were regularly held between the POWs and local English teams. In 1948 a team of German POWs beat the Great Barford team by 5 goals to 1! Edmund Petrie, a keen footballer who was born in Wöllstein, was one of these POWs and he met and married a local girl. After returning to Wöllstein for a short time after the war he settled in Britain and brought up his family in the nearby village of Wilden, where he still lives today.
Eddie continued his love of football as well as his commitment to forging friendships between the British and the German people. .
The partnership between Great Barford began in 1973 with encounters between football teams organized by Edmund Petri and his Wöllsteiner friends Karlheinz Schaad and Walter Wörth. For a long time the regular matches of the two ‘Old Boys’ teams were part of the programme of each partnership gathering. Edmund Petrie donated a trophy that still travels backwards and forwards across the Channel. Nowadays the members compete each year in the ‘Partnership Triathlon’, which comprises darts, bar skittles and indoor bowling. The Cup still remains an important symbol of the friendship between Great Barford and Wöllstein. Sadly Edmund Petrie died in January 2017. After a celebration of his life at St Nicholas Parish Church, Wilden, he was buried in the churchyard there. |
Below are scans of a history of the Partnership written in 2003. Hover your mouse over the picture and you can use 'play' to play the slide show, or 'forward' and 'back' to navigate at your own speed. To select specific images go to the bottom of the page. The pictures will scroll to the left or the right if you move your mouse to either side and click on the one you want. There are also menus/wine lists for 2003 and 2005.