Left, with our Neuwied hosts - and the surprise of a British black taxi owned by a Freundeskreis member – outside the 18th century Schloss Neuwied. Right, outside the Schloss Arff to which Bromley visitors were invited by the owner Freiherr Christoph von Geyr, a member of the Freundeskreis

Left, Ute Köhler, second left, holding the Bromley Shield of Honour awarded to her late husband, Wilhelm Köhler, the founder chairman of the Freundeskreis, who died in July 2006. Her daughter, Annette Köhler is to her left. Right, children from Neuwied's Grundschule an der Wied and Warren Road Primary School, Orpington, during a visit to Orpington by the Neuwied school. The Mayor of Bromley, Councillor Denise Reddin, was with the children, back right.