Why Stoke-on-Trent is Renewing its Links With Twin Town Erlangen
Businesses are urged to get on board with the city’s international connections, while The Knot’s Hannah Hiles recalls her year living in Erlangen as a language student…
It’s been 35 years since Stoke-on-Trent was officially twinned with the German town of Erlangen, with the aim of holding technical and educational exchanges and building cultural and sporting links. The Bavarian town’s name was once a familiar sight on signs around the Potteries: ‘Welcome to Stoke-on-Trent: twinned with Erlangen’, and a long-gone tree was planted outside Hanley town hall to celebrate the partnership.
Signed by the mayors of both cities, the original twinning agreement from 1989 states, in fine calligraphy: “The two cities agree to honour this twinning agreement by establishing and maintaining friendly relations with each other. It is their common intention to connect the citizens of the two cities through widespread contacts in a friendly way to contribute to mutual understanding within a united Europe.”
“They both agree to develop cultural, sporting, economic and community relations, thereby establishing a firm foundation for mutual understanding, respect and friendship between the people of Erlangen and Stoke-on-Trent. Special attention should be given to youth exchanges and the promotion of language studies,” it added.
Maintaining the Connection
Some personal connections have been maintained, and posts in the ‘Erlangen - Stoke-on-Trent’s twin city’ Facebook group reveal the friendships that have endured over the years. Recently, Blythe Bridge Junior Football Club and Leek Town Juniors competed in the Erlangen Twin-Cities tournament in 2023, while pupils from Erlangen’s Eichendorffschule visited the city this year. For anyone wanting to brush up their German, the North Staffs Anglo-German Club meets monthly in Longton.
Over the years, however, the civic relationship between Stoke-on-Trent and Erlangen has seemed to cool and many residents have been left wondering whether the connection had fizzled out completely. But the flames of a new partnership with Erlangen are being kindled and now businesses are being urged to get on board with strengthening Stoke-on-Trent’s international links with its twin town.
Earlier this year a delegation - including Tom Nadin, head of projects and business services at Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce, the then Lord Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent Majid Khan and former city MP Joan Walley - visited Erlangen, and a team from Erlangen made a return visit to the Potteries a month later.
Medical and Technical Exchanges
“We just want to reestablish the partnership and see what it could open up,” Tom told The Knot. “We want to be able to give people in Stoke-on-Trent different experiences. Erlangen is a centre of technology and innovation and there’s a lot that can be learned from what’s going on over there. [German tech giant] Siemens is the biggest employer and it’s built a massive campus, a bit like a Google or Apple.”
Tom added that while the new link is still in its infancy, it is looking at three key areas: people, culture and commerce; building links between schools and colleges; and Stoke-on-Trent’s centenary and business development.
Potential link-ups could include medical or tech exchanges between the universities or performances by the organist from Erlangen’s baroque church at Victoria Hall.
The University of Staffordshire has this year signed a memorandum of understanding with Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, to ‘foster wider relations between the two institutions’, including student and staff exchanges and joint research opportunities. Stoke-on-Trent City Council, meanwhile, is actively looking at ways to involve its twin town in its upcoming centenary celebrations.
Erlangen also has 17 ‘Partnerstӓdte’ around the world, including towns and cities in Turkey, Italy, Ukraine, Sweden, China, Russia and the US - providing a wider network that Stoke-on-Trent could potentially tap into.
The driving force behind the renewed links is former Stoke-on-Trent North MP Joan Walley, who helped set up the twinning agreement in the late 1980s. A German speaker, Joan says the city’s relationship with Erlangen is ‘like having a trusted family friend’. She said: “With austerity there hasn’t been any active engagement, so I’ve looked to enliven the links through the Chamber.”
“Just because Brexit happened it doesn’t mean to say that all links with businesses and people in our neighbouring European countries have to cease. We want prosperity and growth in this city and businesses need employees who can speak modern foreign languages. Being able to speak German, even if it’s just showing willing, speaks volumes about wanting to engage with a company.
“It’s like having a trusted family friend. When you go to Erlangen, it’s like you know each other before you get there. These twinning links have enriched people’s lives.”
Any businesses keen to get involved with the renewed links with Erlangen can email Tom Nadin on tom.nadin@staffordshirechambers.co.uk
Cobbled streets, train trips and so much snow - what Erlangen means to me
I’ll be honest with you. I didn’t really want to go and live abroad on my own for a year as part of my modern languages degree course. But staying at hime wasn’t an option, so I did the next best thing – arranged for my placement to be in Stoke-on-Trent’s twin town, Erlangen. My knowledge of the town, which is close to Nuremberg in Bavaria, extended solely to the then familiar ‘Welcome to Stoke-on-Trent: twinned with Erlangen’ signs around the Potteries, but that was good enough for me.
And so I signed up to be an English language assistant in the Städtische Wirtschaftsschule in Erlangen through the British Council’s teaching abroad programme, and in September 1999 made my way by coach and train to be met by one of the teachers at the station for one of the best years of my life.
When I think back to that year, I hardly think about the teaching work and my time in school. Instead I remember things like:
🥖 The lovely cobbled street where I lived in a tiny ground floor studio flat next door to a delicious-smelling bakery
🚴♂️ Cycling around town and into the countryside along a network of traffic-free trails
☃️ Building an enormous snowman with friends in the Schlossgarten, a gorgeous park in the centre of town behind a stunning baroque palace
🛤️ Turning up at the town’s railway station and just getting on the first train that was due to arrive, because tickets were so cheap and the rail network was so extensive
🎄Getting into the festive spirit at amazing Christmas markets
🎡 Drinking massive glasses of shandy before going on the ferris wheel at the town’s annual beer festival, Bergkirchweih,
🥰 And of course dragging my friends out to the suburbs to visit - and photograph - the Stoke-on-Trent-Straẞe street sign
Admittedly I had lots of free time and few responsibilities, but I’ll always treasure the relaxed way of life and the sheer fun that I had with a big group of international friends. It was a year that changed my life and I wish I could do it all over again.
I hope the renewed links with Erlangen can bring this kind of experience to more young people from Stoke-on-Trent, as well as forging connections which help businesses in both countries to flourish and grow.
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Very interesting article. So pleased that connections are being renewed between the two cities! I too remember the street signs around the city noting the twinning of Stoke on Trent with Erlangen and always wondered what life was like there!
Nice article