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Where is Gütersloh?

  Maps by Expedia.com Travel

Gütersloh is in the North East Corner of North Rhine Westphalia (NRW) half way between Dortmund and Hannover near the city of Bielefeld.  It sits on the main motorway (A2) and rail link between the Rhine-Ruhr conurbation in the West and Hannover, Hamburg and Berlin in the North and East. 

 

Some local history

 

History of Gütersloh

Gütersloh was first recorded in a document of  the Bishop of Osnabrück in 1184, but local settlement predates that time considerably, an archaeological dig in the  Pavenstadt area in 1951 unearthed a cup which has been dated as being 3,700 years old.  Gütersloh remained a small heathland village until it began to develop with  the industrial revolution and the coming of the railways in the mid 19th Century.

Bahnhof Str (now Eickhoff Str) in 1908

 Reinhard Mohn Brunnen

Gütersloh Stadthalle

Nowadays Gütersloh Stadt (town) has a population of 94,000 and is the administrative centre of Gütersloh Kreis (district) with a population of 330,000. It is in the OWL (OstWestfalen-Lippe) region of the NRW (NordRhein-Westfalen) state. Germany being, of course, a Federal Republic. All of which gives you 5 (five!) levels of elected government and administration.  

Industry 

Gütersloh is home to several big companies which are now household names around the world, Miele and Bertelsmann probably being the 2 biggest.  Also see my TWE page!

berliner_platz_09_35.bmp (76086 bytes)

Click on picture for latest view of Berliner Platz, in the  town centre.

Out and About

Die Stadtbibliothek

Inside the town library

Walking round the town you can’t help but notice that it is a affluent town, the paved central shopping area, the library, the park with it’s botanical gardens, etc.

Der botanische Garten

The botanical gardens

 

 

The British Military in Gütersloh

 The Units occupied by the British Military in Gütersloh date back to 1933 when, following Hitler’s assumption of the German Chancellorship, plans were made for 2 military installations in Gütersloh. A Luftwaffe signals unit in what is now Mansergh Barracks (Verler Strasse) and a Luftwaffe airfield in what is now the Princess Royal Barracks (Marienfelder Strasse).  The airfield opened in April 1937, initially being home to 3 squadrons of JU 86's.

Following capture by American army units on 6 April 1945, the Gütersloh bases were handed over to the British in June 1945.  Verler Strasse became RAF Sundern, then Headquarters of RAF 2 Group, and Marienfelder Strasse became RAF Gütersloh. 

105 Squadron Mosquito Mk IV

A RAF Mosquito, the first RAF fighters to be based at RAF Gütersloh in Nov 1945

  As the Iron Curtain descended over Europe and NATO formed up its side of the Cold War in the 50’s,  most RAF units moved to new bases East of the Rhine, near the Dutch border, RAF Gütersloh became the only RAF airfield west of the Rhine, HQ 2  Group moved to Rheindahlen, also purpose built, near the Dutch Border, RAF Sundern becoming Mansergh Barracks.

Harrier GR7

 

 

 

A RAF Harrier, the last type of fast jet to be based at RAF Gütersloh

Chinook HC2

 

 

 

 

 

Chinooks were the last RAF aircraft to leave RAF Gütersloh, before the airfield was handed over to Army control.

RAF Gütersloh remained until 1993, when following the end of the Cold War and re-unification of Germany, the British Forces began to withdraw about ¾ of their personnel from Germany.  However, under it’s new name of Princess Royal Barracks it remains an airfield, being home to British Army helicopters.

 

Illustration

 

 

 

 

British Army Lynx helicopters similar to those based at Gütersloh with 1 Regt AAC.

1 Regt AAC have a families website here

Life in Gütersloh

  • Life in Gütersloh (GT is the local designation on car number plates) can be very nice, despite being British and only speaking a small amount of German. If you are polite and make an effort to respect local customs and habits then you'll get along just fine, and you'll be laughing about any misunderstandings that crop up!
  • The British military community in Gütersloh is well catered for and relationships are generally very good.  Several friends of mine are British folk who chose to settle in GT after a spell here in the forces.
  • There are also several Army Churches in Gütersloh and Bielefeld.
  • The British military community in Germany (Known as BFG - British Forces Germany) have their own  web site and their own weekly newspaper, Sixth Sense.
  • Entertainment wise, there are many friendly pubs and restaurants and several of the cinemas show films in English from time to time.  The links on the left, are a few of my "big nights out"!

 


USEFUL LINKS

Radio/TV

  • BFBS broadcasts in English a single TV channel for the British forces community, they take a mixture of programs from the main UK TV channels. They also produce two 24 hour radio stations, BFBS 1 (similar in style and content to BBC radio 1) and BFBS 2 (content a mixture of BBC radio 2,4 and 5).
  •  You can now listen to BFBS 1 live on your PC (needs Windows Media Player)
  • A quick look at the options on German terrestrial/cable TV can be got from TVtoday.
  • I've added a TV in English page that details the dual language shows on German TV each week.
  • Radio Gütersloh is the local German radio station.

News

Translations and stuff

  • Add a alta vista Babel fish to your browser for quick German/English translations.
  • Another useful language site, with .wav files for key words and phrases is travlang.
  • And add a Universal Currency Converter as well!
  • Or use the link at the bottom of the page.

Travel, getting around Germany

  • RAC euro route finder, for planning trips to the UK etc.
  • Falk German route planner, in German, but better maps.

  

  • Deutche Bahn train times, in English, covers all of Europe and is easier to use for the UK than the Railtrack one!

Cinema

  • For the BFG community (only) in Gütersloh there are 2 SSVC cinemas in Gütersloh, showing the latest UK releases.

  • There are several German cinemas in Gütersloh, but the cinema which most often shows English language films is Bambi& Löwenherz, a two screen , mainly art house, cinema. There are other cinemas in Gütersloh as well, but they rarely show any films in English.
  • New in Gütersloh is a Cinestar 8 screen multiplex.
  • In Bielefeld (BI on the car number plates), the next largest town, 10-15   miles up the road, there are several cinemas there, several of which show films in English from time to time. The Astoria (4 screens), almost always has at least 1 film in English as does the Cinestar 10 screen multiplex. The CinemaxX (8 screens) multiplex has one on occasion as well.
  • The things to look for in the German listings are OV/Original Verfassung (original version), or OF/Original Fassung (original language), or OmU/ Original mit Untertiteln (original with subtitles).
 

Local Info

     
    • There is another info site that is available in English as well as German. there is a map on this site, I live near the top right hand corner of the map.

    Nights Out

    • The , my favourite pub/kneipe (again! - well my friend John designed the site!)
    • My other favourite night out/venue is the Weberei, another pub/restaurant/music venue in Gütersloh.
    • Tips is a Bielefeld based listings magazine and covers the Gütersloh and Bielefeld area, listing most of what's going on!
    • BIG nights out in recent months were Hard Pop Days in Bremen and Crossing all Over in Gütersloh.

 

 

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