Whitstable Twinning Association pays tribute to its Borken Secretary and Honorary Life Member John Horstkamp, the man who in 1986, on behalf of Borken, made the initial contact with Whitstable

A Borkener living in England and working throughout Europe he was ideally placed to respond to Burghermeister Ehling & Stadtdirector Beutel’s search for a British Partnertown. He strode confidently into Dickie Bird’s Whitstable pub to meet people there also looking for a twin and proceeded to describe his hometown, Borken its groups and its people. Since then Whitstable/Borken has become the most active, successful and Number One Anglo/German Twinning.

For more than 30 years John completed valuable work bringing many groups to Whitstable and touring England especially linked to his choral groups and bird watching interests. John came to have many friends in Whitstable and promote the very personal friendly way the WTA organized things. He encouraged Borkeners to generously support Whitstable’s work in Twinning, given that they do not benefit from municipal financial support. He set up and administered a Borken Membership of WTA which has over 100 Borken Members donating significant amounts annually, for which WTA has been very grateful. More than that he undertook many projects and arranged work parties of WTA Borken Members. He brought Oysters, Post Boxes, Telephone Kiosks to Borken, built trailers and Carnival Floats in Whitstable, distributed nestboxes and helped firevisits…… the list is endless. Everything was organized down to the last detail and he was proud of Borken and his many achievements.

John’s efforts on behalf of WTA were very considerable and he held a unique place in the setting up and ongoing development of Whitstable and Borken as Partnertowns. After relocating to Borken, on retirement, he always flew the Whitstable flag and was keen to maintain the strong Borken – Whitstable partnership, the ‘Foundation Stone’ on which everything in the Family of Partnertowns is built. He will be greatly missed and our thoughts are with Ulla,
his wife and his many friends.

Roger Annable President Whitstable Twinning Association