Biberach and local choirs in peace-themed concert

A PEACE-themed concert involving the Guernsey Chamber Choir and Kantorei Biberach finally went ahead at the weekend – two years later than originally planned.

Pictured left to right, founding member of Biberach Friend of Guernsey Rotraud Rebmann, conductor of Guernsey Chamber Choir Helen Grand and twinning town administrator in Biberach Josepha Brugger. Behind them is chair of twinning association at Biberach Hans-Bernd Sick. (Picture by Luke Le Prevost, 31092507)

The Guernsey Girls Choir and a full orchestra were also involved in the event at St Stephen’s Church which had been earmarked for the 75th anniversary of the Liberation in 2020 but was delayed by Covid.

The ensemble performed Karl Jenkins’ The Peacemakers, which featured text from Nelson Mandela, Terry Waite and Martin Luther King.

‘I don’t speak German but I think the music speaks for us all,’ said GCC conductor Helen Grand.

A reciprocal concert had been due to take place in Biberach a fortnight ago but it had to go ahead without the Chamber Choir, again because of Covid.

Bailiff Richard McMahon, a choir member, did make the trip and was able to perform in the year that marks the 25th anniversary of the friendship agreement between Guernsey and Biberach, where about 1,000 Guernsey residents were deported during the Second World War.

Mrs Grand said it was unfortunate that the Kantorei musical director, Ralf Klotz, with whom she had arranged the event, was unable to travel to Guernsey, again due to Covid.

In all, 33 choir members made the trip from the German town.

A Biberach Friends of Guernsey founding member, Rotraud Rebmann, said it was poignant that the peace-themed concert was finally taking place given the ongoing war in the Ukraine.

‘We are aware of what happened to the island during the war and this is about not forgetting the past and building bridges for the future,’ she said.

‘Our friendship with Guernsey is very special.’

The camp where the Guernsey people were sent is now a police training college.

Chairman of the Biberach Twinning Association, Hans-Bernd Sick, said: ‘The history of the camp is used to show trainees the difference between policing in a democracy and a dictatorship.’

Alongside its friendship arrangement with Guernsey, Biberach has twinning agreements with places in France, Poland, Italy, Georgia, and the UK.