Special visit from the twin town

Four men from Bolton follow in the footsteps of former prisoners of war.

They are currently on a very special mission and have just stopped off in Paderborn: the four military veterans David Carter, Simon Cass, Stephen Kenworthy and Paul Burgess, who were born in Paderborn’s twin town of Bolton, are following in the footsteps of all those former British prisoners of war in Germany who were able to make their way back to their home in Great Britain, to Bolton, after the end of the First World War.

928 soldiers made their way back at that time. “One of them was my great-grandfather James,” reports David Carter. James Carter had been held in the prisoner of war camp “Münster II”, where a residential area can be found today. This is where the journey of the four men begins, which takes them via Belgium and France back to Bolton – among other things by train, bicycle and on foot.

Since Paderborn is not that far from Münster, the four Britons decided to make a stop in the twin city first. Here they were warmly welcomed on June 12th 2023 by Paderborn’s deputy mayor Sabine Kramm and the chair of the Anglo-German Club Paderborn, Angie Reeh. Beforehand, the interested guests had already been able to get a first impression of Paderborn during a guided tour of the city.

On Tuesday, Carter, Cass, Kenworthy and Burgess started their tour in Münster. If everything goes according to plan, they will cover about 1,365 kilometres in eleven days. The city of Paderborn wishes them all the best and every success.

In front of Paderborn City Hall: (from left) Tiffany Hardiman (NATO Forward Holding Base Sennelager), Stephen Kenworthy, David Carter, Deputy Mayor Sabine Kramm, Simon Cass, Paul Burgess, Angie Reeh (Chair of the Anglo-German Club Paderborn) and Ainsley Oldham (NATO Forward Holding Base Sennelager).

(Communication from the City of Paderborn)