Musikverein Volkertshausen - How our friendship began
by Vic Beer
"My first introduction to the Volkertshausen band was in 1987 when my friend Reinhard Veit invited me to stay with his family.
At that time the band was mainly a youth band. I met the man who was teaching the band which consisted of mostly young brass players. Gradually other instrumentalists joined and became a full band once again.
On another visit, Reinhard's Father showed me a book on the history of the village which was quite small in the 1800's. The photographs included one of Reinhard's father, who played side drum. The size of the band varied considerably because of the two World Wars but at times it reached about 30-40 members .
On another visit I was invited to the Band President's 75th birthday party and while I was there managed to start a form of twinning with the Musikverein Volkertshausen band. From this we were invited to Volkertshausen in 2007 to take part in a festival in the village to celebrate their 150th anniversary.
This was a success and so we invited the Musikverein Volkertshausen band to Bratton in 2009 to celebrate our 150th anniversary of banding. Bratton returned to Volkertshausen in 2012, playing two outdoor concerts. The German band made a second returning visit in 2016."
