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Grunehide 2023
The visit took place on 29th September to 1stOctober. Arrival in Berlin was for the first time at Berlin Brandenburg Airport which the District had previously visited some years prior during the construction phase. This year’s group consisted of; Marti Harris, Frank Turner, Steve Chesson & Graham Hill-Howgate.
The first stop was back at the fire station in Grunheide for a BBQ lunch and to meet up with friends of previous visits. At this point our gift to Grunheide was presented to Tim Stoklossa. (At the final day of the visit on returning to the Station, the clock was already up on the Watchroom wall)
The next part of the visit was to the newly built Technical Rescue Centre which now houses the Diving Team, On-Call Doctor, and several other special rescue vehicles. Also now on the site is the Fire Technical Training Centre, a real fire training school run by one of our long-term friends, Norman Oswald.
Moving on from here we were taken to the equally new Tesla Gigafactory, built in just 2 years, and now producing cars.
On behalf of the District, Frank Turner presented a pennant to the Chief of the Tesla Gigafactory works fire brigade.
The next part was a long journey to Rostock on the Baltic Sea coast where the rest of the visit was based and ending day one of the 2023 exchange visit.
Day 2 started with a visit to Rostock Fire Brigade and a look over their fire boat. At the end of the visit the crew were presented with a District pennant and some pin badges.
A short journey followed for a more leisurely visit to Warnemunde where we had a nice lunch and tour of the harbour on a sightseeing boat. Some of the group also took a trip up the Lighthouse, while others enjoyed a drink at the base of the tower.
After a relaxing break in Warnemunde it was off to the military airbase in Laage, where we were shown around the fire station and a run out on one of their fire appliances and a look at the training Eurofighters that operate from the base.
A short trip back to the hotel and time for a change and then it was back into town for dinner and time to reflect on the day and enjoy a social time catching up with our hosts and friends from Grunheide Fire Brigade who had put so much into the visit.
A short journey followed for a more leisurely visit to Warnemunde where we had a nice lunch and tour of the harbour on a sightseeing boat. Some of the group also took a trip up the Lighthouse, while others enjoyed a drink at the base of the tower.