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Grants

The Colin Pond Foundation was set up in 2001 as a Trust Fund to provide grants for young people engaged on a professional training course. The main stipulation is that the apprenticeship, training course or study programme lead to a recognised qualification.

Who is eligible for a grant?
Young adults between the age of 18 and 30 who come from Witten, Barking or Dagenham, who are on a recognised training course and who would not normally be able to complete the course without financial support.

International training
Applications with an international character – particularly if they relate to the Barking & Dagenham and Witten Twin Town Arrangement – will be preferred.

Amount of grant
As a rule, the Colin Pond Foundation may award an individual applicant a sum of up to € 2,300.00.

Application
Anyone interested in receiving a grant from the Colin Pond Foundation should apply in writing to the Trustees‘ secretary, setting out the aim and purpose of the training course. At the end of the grant period, they will be expected to submit a progress report.

Conditions
Applicants must explain what exact goal of the selected training course is.
They must give good reason that the grant is essential and that – through the grant and other financial means completion of the training course is an assured prospect.
If grant money from the Trust Fund is to be used to purchase equipment relevant to a recognised training course, then this must be made explicit in the application.
At their discretion, the Trustees may invite the applicants to attend an interview.
The grants may be paid out in instalments. If the training course is not completed as indicated, the Trustees are entitled to demand repayment or part repayment.
The Trustees reserve the right to make contact with the organisers of a training course in the event of lack of clarity as to course recognition or applicant aptitude.

The Trustees
Erich Bremm
Klaus Lohmann
Birgit Legel-Wood

Consultant
Klaus Völkel

A Short History of Witten

Public records first mention Witten as a place name in 1214. However, there is also evidence going back to the year 851 for Herbede, which was to be incorporated into Witten in 1975. Awarded its own municipal rights in 1825, Witten has belonged to the Ennepe-Ruhr District since that local government reorganisation in the 1970s.

Strangers to Witten find it difficult to believe that this green town on the banks of the Ruhr also ranks as the „cradle of Ruhr industry“. Legend has it that, one day, a long time ago, a swineherd became fascinated by stones glowing in his campfire down Muttental way (Mutten Valley).

Yes, he had discovered coal, the economic significance of which was to make Witten a hub of the Ruhr mining industry by the mid 19th century. Today, Witten is a town full of contrast — topographically a little uneven, perhaps, but all the more interesting for it.

A medium-sized town which gives you a sense of the woodland countryside leading to the Bergische Land or the Sauerland but which also lies in the immediate vicinity of big cities such as Dortmund and Bochum. Either way, Witten with just under 100,000 inhabitants is the largest town in the Ennepe-Ruhr District.

Sightseeing attractions are …
Hohenstein Park with deer and boar enclosures, pets corner, sunbathing lawns, playing fields, nature trail and viewing tower high above the River Ruhr. The old hotel is currently under reconstruction, by the way. Lake Kemnade for boat trips, yacht & pedal boat hire, beach bar, places to eat and a swimming centre with open-air pool. Zeche Nachtigall (or Nightingale Colliery) and the Muttental Mining Trail (with a mine you can go down) combine as one anchor-point along the Industrial Heritage Route.

The Märkische Museum houses a unique collection of 20th century German paintings and graphic art. Plus a hoisting gear museum and other museums featuring the early history of mining in the Ruhr.

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A Short History of Barking and Dagenham

The history of how Barking & Dagenham came to be settled can be traced back to the Stone Age. Also, both towns are on record as the very earliest Anglo-Saxon settlements in the County of Essex.

However, the area as a whole first become known under the Normans in the 11th century – when William the Conqueror set up quarters in Barking Abbey until the Tower in London was ready to move into. Founded in 666, Barking Abbey was the largest and one of the first Benedictine nunneries in Britannia.

But as a result of the persecution of the Catholic Church by Henry VIII in the 16th century, the nuns were expelled and the cloisters destroyed.

Agriculture played an important role in this part of today’s Greater London. The extensive landholdings in Barking were mainly used for cattle and sheep rearing whereas the Dagenham area was divided into smallholdings, the fertile soil ideal for mixed farming based on wheat, fruit, vegetables and potatoes.

From the 14th century through to the second half of the 19th century, fishing was the main trading activity. Plentiful catches from Barking Bay even supplied the market in London. It was also here that ships belonging to the Royal Fleet were repaired and maintained. The fishing business finally went into decline as the rapid development of the railways made access to East Coast seaports quicker.

The foundations for industrialisation in the area were made in 1887 when entrepreneur Samuel Williams began to convert the Dagenham waterfront into a major harbour complex. Also, between 1929 and 1931, the Ford Motor Company built production facilities there, a plant that as late as 1994 still employed a workforce of 9,000.

Today, since a series of rationalisation schemes and production outsourcing (globalisation), the Ford works here have lost their significance. Yet despite the job losses in large-scale industry, the population n Barking & Dagenham continues to grow. Incidentally, although the density of the population is more compact – at least compared to Witten – most of the inhabitants still live in terraced houses. None of the other 32 boroughs in Greater London have so many small houses.

Photos: Old Dagenham, impressions of Barking

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Conversation-Circle

Several members of the Barking & Dagenham Club in Witten meet once a month to brush up their English. For over three years now, eight to ten Witteners (whose school English goes back a good few years!) come together for an English Conversation Circle – both regulars and new recruits.

Initially, the Circle tried to meet in pubs or cafés. But various interruptions, not to mention the noise level, soon led to a rethink. The solution was easy: the meetings now take place in rotation at members‘ homes. The date is fixed for the third Friday in the month unless vacations or public holidays require a new schedule.

To check on details of the next meeting, phone Erich Bremm on 02302 48300.

Flea Market

Since 1998, the „twin-town flea market“ has taken place every year in the car park of the Ostermann Furniture Store, the twofold aim being to raise cash for the Twinning Fund and to provide the societies linked to Witten’s other twin towns with the opportunity to show what they do.

Each society can decide for itself whether to donate any proceeds to the Twinning Fund or simply boost their own finances.

A host of other clubs and institutions – schools, sports associations clubs, animal welfare groups and theatres (such as the independent Ruhrbühne) – regularly take part. An additional attraction comes in the form of commercial market stalls whose rent for the day also goes into the Twinning Fund.

Thus it is that every year there’s a whole lot to do, see and enjoy. Jumble and bric à brac of all kinds, a choice of new products and an appetising range of culinary delights positively invite you to take a stroll round and have a closer look. There’s also some music or sport show entertainment.

Partnerschaftsflohmarkt 2017:

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