Two members of a German youth choir are to make an emotional return to the town of Llangollen this July, 60 years after they sang there as schoolgirls.<\/p>\n
Ursel Gaussman and Inge Volkening, then both aged 14, were part of the Obernkirchen Children\u2019s Choir which won at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod in 1953 \u2013 and had an international hit with the song The Happy Wanderer.<\/p>\n
Sixty years on the Eisteddfod have contacted the choir, now known as the Schaumburger Maerchensaenger, and invited Inge and Ursel over, accompanied by the choir\u2019s musical director, Gudrun Wuttke.<\/p>\n
They will take part in the opening ceremony for this year\u2019s event, on Tuesday, July 9, the first time they have been back to the UK since 1953.<\/p>\n
Then another visitor, the poet Dylan Thomas, described them as \u201cpig-tailed angels\u201d in a radio broadcast, one of his last for the BBC before his death in New York four months later.<\/p>\n
Ursel and Inge actually met the great poet as well as the Queen and Prince Philip<\/p>\n
Gudrun, who has been in charge of the choir for over 25 years, said proudly: \u201cHe is one of my favourite poets and we still use \u2018angels with pigtails\u2019 in our publicity.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have spoken to the ladies and they really want to come back to Llangollen but they wanted me to come with them because they don\u2019t speak English.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey appeared on a very famous German television show in September and they spoke about their memories of Llangollen and the choir performed the song \u2013 it was lovely to see Inge and Ursel singing along.\u201d<\/p>\n
The BBC broadcast of the choir performing The Happy Wanderer at Llangollen turned it into an international hit \u2013 it was written by Friedrich-Wilhelm M\u00f6ller whose sister Edith conducted the choir.<\/p>\n
She and Florenz Siegesmund wrote the lyrics and within six months it was in the UK charts while the choir became internationally known and toured extensively.<\/p>\n
Inge and Ursel married and had families and still live in Obernkirchen and Ursel\u2019s son and two nieces also sang in the choir.<\/p>\n
Gudrun added: \u201cWhen you look at the amazing history of this choir you always should have in mind that Germany lost the war in 1945 and had a very difficult relationship to any other country.<\/p>\n
\u201cUp to the early Fifties Schaumburg was British occupation zone. The two founder ladies \u2013 Edith M\u00f6ller and Erna Pielsticker \u2013 became friends with the British Relation Officer, and with his great support the amazing story begins.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe arranged an exchange trip to England, to Ipswich, in 1950 and this contact initiated the participation in the Llangollen Musical Eisteddfod in 1953.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor Inge and Ursel it was their second trip to Great Britain and their first to Wales and both ladies look back to this still with great excitement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey could hardly speak or understand any English and had never been anywhere besides Schaumburg before.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring their stay in Llangollen they were guests of Welsh families and even the breakfast habits seemed strange for these girls.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne day the host lady called her young guests for breakfast one morning and \u2018Would you please come down for breakfast?\u2019 Inge translated as \u2018Willy, es gibt Bratwurst\u2019 \u2013 Willy, we are going to have fried sausage\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the memory of both ladies is still vivid and their experience in Llangollen is one of the most important of their lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth tell me that the choir formed their lives and they still have contacts to people from their time in the choir membership and still meet in the society of former M\u00e4rchens\u00e4nger.\u201d<\/p>\n
One person who remembers their 1953 performance vividly is former Eisteddfod Chairman Gethin Davies, then a 14-year-old schoolboy just promoted to the sought after job of usher in the Eisteddfod marquee after serving his time as a programme seller.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI had just shown someone to their eat when these children came on with a double bass and a guitar and suddenly his wonderful sound came over \u2013 it sent shivers down my back.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen they had finished the audience was just lapping and clapping and calling for an encore but because it was a ompetition they couldn\u2019t do one.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe BBC had recorded it though and arlophone released it as an old-fashioned 78rpm record and it was a big hit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI used to listen to it on Radio Luxembourg hich was rather frowned upon by your parents but others recorded it too and hey put some awful English words to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it was an unforgettable occasion and, as Max Boyce would say, I was there.<\/p>\n
\u201cI loved being an usher because after showing people to their seats you could just sit down and enjoy the performances.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inge and Ursel are are still going strong in the small town of Obernkirchen, near Minden, in Lower Saxony, where Gudrun is in charge of three choirs from primary school age to 24.<\/p>\n
She is also looking forward to the visit and said: \u201cThe UK is my favourite country and I have visited many times but never to Llangollen before but we are very much looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gethin Davies added: \u201cI would be thrilled if those ladies can make the trip. It would be a real link with my childhood and the treasured memories I have of the Esteddfod.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Eisteddfod\u2019s Musical Director, Eilir Owen Griffiths, said: \u201cWe are thrilled that they will be here and have made the arrangements to fly them over.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are a real link with the Eisteddfod\u2019s history and with its culture and international appeal.\u201d<\/p>\n
To watch Inge and Ursel and the present day choir on German TV go to http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=acowt_7fQUU<\/a> and for more on the choir check out http:\/\/www.maerchensaenger.de\/<\/a><\/p>\n To book tickets and for more details on this year\u2019s event go to the website at www.international-eisteddfod.co.uk<\/a> and on Facebook at www.facebook.com\/llangollen<\/a><\/p>\n