The Gelnhäuser Travelers introduce themselves
Angelika Hergenröther

The Gelnhäuser Travelers have been in existence since December 2009. Now we already have 32 members, among them 12 children.

As our financial means were limited in the beginning, we wanted to be a travel club for a start, in spite of having a class. That is why we chose the name "Gelnhäuser Travelers". To match the name, our president Herbert Hergenröther designed a suitcase as our badge – the suitcase can also be found on our banner.

Our club's hometown is the nice historical Barbarossa town Gelnhausen.

It is situated between Frankfurt and Fulda and was an important town in the middle ages, as the trading route from Frankfurt to Leipzig passed through it. Here was the narrowest part of the journey, and the merchants had to load their wagons in such a way that they were able to pass through.

Nowadays Gelnhausen is rather placid and a suitable place for children to grow up. That was also the reason for founding our club.

In the summer of 2009, some children between the ages of eight and twelve came together to learn square dancing, following the example set by their parents. As a class did not exist at that time, they learned the first calls in Klaus Müller's living room. When the number of calls increased and the room was big enough any more, we asked the town council for a practise room free of charge. We were told that only clubs would get such a free room.

Within a few days we decided to found a club for the children, so that they were able to continue dancing, as the first student parties would take place in the near future.

From now on the children would practice at 5 p.m. every Sunday with the assistance of adults. In no time at all there were a lot of visitors to help the children.

On 2nd October 2010 we had our first special dance followed by a club night, where 120 square dancers took part. We were able to call on our friends Keith Haigh and Volker Weiß as callers.

Having coffee and cakes, and later a large buffet of salads and grilled food, together with a pleasant atmosphere, all our guests enjoyed themselves.

The 27th February was the long-awaited day of our first graduation ceremony. 6 children and 3 adults, who were parents of the children (!!!), passed their "examination" under the eyes of square dancers from clubs that are good friends of ours.

This year our special dance, the "2nd travel dance", is scheduled for 1st October 2011. All the people who want to get to know us
better are cordially invited to this dance, and of course we do hope that a great number of children and teenagers will be among them.

Further information about our club can be found on the internet: http://www.travelers-sdc.de

See you soon in a Square

Transl.: Helmut Reitz