Home   News   Article A group of students from Forres Academy’s partner school in Germany received a tour of the town last week The teenagers and their teachers were shown around Nelson’s Tower as well as Blair Loch with the help of the help of the heritage trust It’s been 40 years since Forres was first twinned with Vienenburg a town of a similar size in the German region of Lower Saxony A previous visit had to be cancelled during to the pandemic so it was the first time since 2018 that a group had come to Moray A larger contingent of adults are due to arrive in September Last year a group of Forres pupis visited Vienenburg A LOCAL children’s football club has been granted £4000 towards a trip to Germany Sixteen young and 16 adult members of Forres Area Soccer Sevens (FASS) will represent Forres in its twin town of Vienenburg from July 4 to July 10 FASS treasurer Tommy Smith confirmed Vienenburg football team JSG Harley visited Forres in 2015 and 2019 while Soccer Sevens have made only one trip before He said: “We are grateful to Berry Burn Community Fund’s committee for selecting our application to help The flights are costing £8500 – we’re going to fundraise the remainder.” six adults will stay in a Vienenburg youth hostel with the attending children The rest of the grown-ups will stay with German hosts who are part of the twinning team “They’ve a busy week planned for us,” said Tommy “We’ll be visiting sites in the Goslar area “The children will also visit a primary school It gets very hot but Vienenburg has an outdoor swimming pool so the kids can cool down “We’ll have training most nights in preparation for a football tournament on the Saturday night which will be followed by a barbecue.” Tommy knows the visit will be an amazing experience and opportunity He said: “Since these exchanges started we’ve made lifelong friends and done things the children wouldn’t get the chance to otherwise Five players that went in 2017 are still at Soccer Sevens in our new senior section A few of them help out coaching in the Development 4s group He added: “Several kids going this time have been at Soccer Sevens since they were four years old and now have the opportunity to represent Forres on the international stage.” FASS are looking for financial donations and prizes to be raffled for the trip FOUR children and two adults have been rushed to hospital following a house fire in Moray Emergency crews Six people, two adults and four children, were rushed to hospital after the blaze Dramatic images from the scene show the charred remains of the property as firefighters examine the scene The road is currently closed at the junction of Vienenburg Avenue and Grant Road West 19 January to reports of a dwelling fire on Twinning Link “Operations Control mobilised a total of eight fire appliances including specialist resources and firefighters currently remain in attendance." A Police Scotland spokesperson added: "Around 8.10am on Thursday, 18 January, 2023, we were called to a report of a house fire in Twinning Link, Forres. "Emergency services are currently at the scene. have been taken to hospital as a precaution." Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click here A group of young Moray footballers travelled to Germany for the return leg of the ultimate in sporting friendlies The squad of 16 children and 16 adults from Forres made the trip to twin German towns Vienenburg and Goslar just a week after it was hit by flooding The trip was a return visit after the Forres Soccer 7s club hosted a youth football team from Vienenburg two years ago and for most of the group it was their first time in Germany The group sailed overnight to Amsterdam from Newcastle before being bussed to Vienenburg – where they were greeted by the children who had visited Forres two years earlier which was getting back on its feet after being flooded the week before Shaun Moat said: “It was amazing to see everything open considering it had been flooded by several feet of dirty water less than a week ago.” The week ended with football matches between the hosts and their guests Both children’s teams won their matches before the adults took to the field Mr Moat said: “Two years ago we got beaten so we there was pressure on us considering the results of both kids’ teams.” The adults wonn their game making it a clean sweep for the group from Forres And the trip ended with a presentation of a gift hamper filled with local produce from Forres as a thank you from the visitors to their hosts Four children and two adults have been taken to hospital following a house fire in Forres. Eight fire engines, including specialist resources, were called out to a house in Twinning Link, Forres at around 8am on Thursday. Two adults and four children were taken to hospital as a “precaution”, however there are no reported casualties. Emergency services remain at the scene as they continue to battle the blaze. A police spokeswoman said: “Around 8.10am on Thursday, January 18, we were called to a report of a house fire in Twinning Link, Forres. “Emergency services are currently at the scene. “The road is currently closed at the junction of Vienenburg Avenue and Grant Road West. “Six people, two adults and four children, have been taken to hospital as a precaution.” A Scottish Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said: “We were alerted at 8.03am on Thursday, January 19, to reports of a dwelling fire on Twinning Link, Forres. “Operations Control mobilised a total of eight fire appliances including specialist resources, and firefighters currently remain in attendance. STV News is now on WhatsAppGet all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Follow STV News on WhatsAppScan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country '+scriptOptions._localizedStrings.webview_notification_text+' "+scriptOptions._localizedStrings.redirect_overlay_title+" "+scriptOptions._localizedStrings.redirect_overlay_text+" FORRES and District Pipe Band made a triumphant return home to play at the town’s Highland Games following a weekend of heralded performances in Europe A total of 24 players aged from 13 to 69-years-old Germany to celebrate its 1100th anniversary confirmed the tour was part-funded by a £3625 grant from the Berry Burn Community Fund as well as a fundraising coffee morning at Forres Town Hall supported by Forres and District-Vienenburg and Goslar Twinning Association She said: “Some of the younger members had never travelled with the band before the band were treated to a fabulous tour accompanied by the mayor “They opened the anniversary show by marching onto the field in front of the Imperial Palace “A large audience watched the evening’s entertainment featuring a second performance.” took centre stage and did some highland dancing while the rest of the band played the band completed their set to rapturous applause “The finale of the evening was the band accompanied by a police orchestra playing ‘Highland Cathedral’ “Pipe Major Johnathon Scott piped alone accompanied by lead snare drummer Kirsty McCallum before the rest of the band and the orchestra joined in members of the twinning committee and the large crowd watching.” He said: “Despite the relative youth of the band they rose to the occasion on a huge floodlit stage and were greatly appreciated by a large crowd sitting on the grass in front of the Kaiserpfalz “Cora’s spectacular Highland dance drew sustained applause “Highland Cathedral was a fitting climax to an occasion which will live long in the memory of all the band and members of the Twinning Association who were overcome with emotion." The following morning the band entertained a large audience at the Goslar Marketpatz in hot conditions This was followed by a short bus journey to nearby Vienenburg to perform at the oldest train station in Germany in front of another large crowd the remainder of the Sunday was free for the band to explore the beautiful sights of Goslar in the sun David finished: “It was fitting that the show should end in Vienenburg as this town - about the same size as Forres - is where the soul of our now 38-year-old partnership resides “As everyone reflected on the success of the event thoughts turned to the late John Channon who did so much to promote the band to encourage young people to take up pipes and drums and to be able to perform to such a high standard on such an important and formidable occasion.” Forres Pipe Band made a six hour journey to Rotterdam for the overnight ferry to Newcastle where a coach waited to transport everyone back to Scotland.