German Green Leader in Stroud

I was fortunate to be able to meet Maria Gerl-Plein, Leader of the Green party group (Die Grünen) in Gottingen a city in mid Germany - Stroud District is twinned with them since 1951! No doubt quite radical in those days following the war - anyhow they have 8 Greens out of 60 plus District councillors (see here) - although across the area many more.

Photo: Maria with other Green councillors, John and Gwen at Star Anise on Saturday morning

Maria was part of an official visit here - her fifth or sixth and she'd been a Green councillor some 24 years - 2 years longer than John Marjoram who was one of the first two Green councillors elected in the UK. It was great to learn about some of the changes they faced in Germany - the challenges of trying to raise issues like climate change - it is strangely wonderful knowing that there are Greens across the world working towards the same goals - see for example the Global Greens website here.