Photo of the month - September 2022
The 1928 meeting of the Ramblers' Associations in Bocholt
"Whoever wants to hike with joy, go towards the sun " - these lines from an old folk song could have been the reason for six young people from Bocholt to found the Bocholt Hiking Club in September 1913. A love of nature, exercise in the fresh air and exploring the sights in the respective region were further motives of the hiking enthusiasts more than 100 years ago.
Although the First World War hardly permitted such leisure activities, the hiking movement revived in the 1920s. In 1928, the oldest local association in Bocholt celebrated its 15th anniversary.
To mark this anniversary, the association's executive committee organised a so-called "Überbündisches Wandertreffen" in Bocholt on 8 and 9 September 1928, in which numerous associations from Münster and Rhineland took part. The event also served to promote hiking and to advertise the German youth hostels. Chairman Heinrich Klein welcomed the "Falk" hiking and tourist association (Stadtlohn), the "Fahrenden Gesellen" from Rees, the "Naturfreunde" from Vreden, the hiking associations "Wettertrotz" (Dortmund) and "Frisch voran" (Marl) as well as the two other Bocholt groups Evangelischer Arbeiterinnenverein and Sozialistische Arbeiterjugend.
Many guests from the surrounding area
The Ramblers' Associations arrived in Bocholt on Saturday and moved into their allocated accommodation, including the youth hostel set up in November 1926 in a back building on Kaiser-Wilhelm-Strasse 35/37. To kick off the event, a large publicity rally was held in the evening on the market square, attended by a considerable crowd of spectators, with performances of folk dances and musical contributions.
On Sunday morning, the people of Bocholt were awakened by the cheerful playing of violins, mandolins and drums by the ramblers' associations. They went singing to the meadow on Kaiser-Friedrich-Straße (today Berliner Platz), where old German games and folk dances were on the programme. The picture taken on 9 September 1928 shows the camp life of the Bocholt Ramblers' Association there.
The young people, among them the later board member Josef Hemsing (in front), are wearing the usual costumes of their association, and the young women are taking care of the so-called "Abkochen" (boiling) to feed all participants. Incidentally, the hiking meeting was favoured by beautiful late summer weather, so that one could speak of an all-round successful event.