News

Uwe Maynard honoured by the German Government

Early this year, on the 2nd February, a group of about twenty of us, including Uwe’s wife Elke and his close family, together with a representative gathering of colleagues from the German YMCA and the Lancaster Hall Hotel, the German Welfare Council and the Synod, were delighted to be invited by the German Ambassador, Dr. Peter Ammon and Mrs. Marliese Heimann-Ammon to a Vin d’Honneur at their Residence to witness the presentation to Uwe Maynard of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The award was made in recognition of Uwe’s special contribution, over a period spanning a total of forty years, to the work of the German YMCA, which he has led with distinction as General Secretary/Chief Executive for the last 14 years, and the Lancaster Hall Hotel, which he has managed with great skill over 24 years. In his presentation address the German Ambassador also paid tribute to Uwe’s long service as Secretary to the Council for German Church Work and the support he had given to the German Welfare Council, particularly from the time that funding from Germany was no longer available.

In his typically modest acceptance speech Uwe acknowledged the support he had always received from his colleagues and suggested that his award should be regarded as reflecting their efforts as much as his own. What is beyond dispute is that we all felt proud that one of our own had been justly honoured for his achievements and were able to celebrate with him and his family. It was a special pleasure to all of us that we were joined on this happy occasion by our recently retired President, George Mallinckrodt, who had worked with Uwe for so many years. And it is good to know that the very important charitable work of our Association continues to achieve recognition.

Dieter Losse, Chairman of the German YMCA

Thank you Markus!

Many people may not know him, but Markus Hildebrandt has been connected to our Association since his birth. He is the son of our former General Secretary Bernd Hildebrandt and grew up on our premises. When we started our leap into the electronic age he was the webmaster from day one and did the programme layouts for many years. He has now decided to retire from this role. We are grateful for all his contributions, the countless errors and spelling mistakes he has prevented us from making and wish him all the best, i.e. God’s blessing on his way forward to new things.

Bring and Buy

March’s Bring & Buy generated £560 for the German Seamen’s Mission. They will use it to support seafarers of any nationality or creed in the Port of London. Many thanks to donors, customers and helpers!

Stamps for Bethel

For many years we have been collecting used (and unused) stamps for Bethel, a social charity in Bielefeld, Germany. The donated stamps are sorted and processed by disabled people to be sold on. This gives them jobs and a lot of fun in finding out where this particular specimen is from. Please keep all undamaged stamps and pass them on to Udo Bauer, who will send them on to the good cause.

DVDs for Seamen’s Mission

If you have spare DVDs that you don’t need we will happily collect and pass them on to lonely seafarers. On the ocean they usually don’t have TV reception.