2009 marks the 40th anniversary of Leeds' partnership with Dortmund. At the end of March the Lord Mayor was invited to Dortmund to participate in celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the German British Society and the 40th anniversary of the civic partnership between Stadt Dortmund and Leeds. The Lord Mayor was received by the Oberbürgermeister Dr. Langemeyer; Klaus Wegener, President of the “Auslandgesellschaft NRW” (Foreign Association) and Birgit Jörder, Deputy Consul of the general consulate.
Events celebrating the anniversary will take place in Leeds in October 2009.
The TWINS 2010 project
This flagship project is part of the successful bid of the Ruhr region for European Cultural Capital 2010. The aim is to establish a sustainable cultural network of partner cities linked with cities in the Ruhr region. Burkhard Rinsche from Dortmund’s cultural department is preparing guidelines for the whole Ruhr region including Dortmund and its partner cities for TWINS 2010 at the moment. Dortmund schools are undertaking a project investigating the structural change of their region from coal and steel industries to modern service industries using digital media. They are looking for Leeds schools to take part and share their experiences.
Early years
A brand new link was established in 2007 between Robin Hood Primary School in south Leeds and the ‘KiTa Kuithanstraße’ day care centre in Dortmund. The Dortmund day care centre undertakes all educational activities in both German and English to give the children a head start in their English language learning, which is a compulsory part of their later education. The link came about as a direct result of the visit to Dortmund in September by Leeds City Council representatives, and both sides are very enthusiastic about the prospects for the partnership.
On a mission
2007 saw the economic development links between Leeds and Dortmund strengthened enormously, with two successful business delegations coming to visit Leeds and one visit to Dortmund focusing on matters of economic development. If you would like to find out more please see the downloadable document on the right of the page.
18 manufacturers of dental devices and dental practitioners from North Rhine Westphalia came to Leeds at the end of April 2008 to gain an overview of the UK dental sector and to network with possible UK partners. They visited the Leeds Dental Institute and met local dentists.
Get involved!
If you would like more information on the Dortmund – Leeds partnership or if you would like to get involved, please contact us using the contact details on the top right hand side of this page.