Beuel city soldiers
The Beuel City Soldiers is one of the large carnival clubs in Beuels . In the register of associations of the city of Bonn as the Beueler Stadtsoldaten-Corps "Red-Blue" from 1936 e. V. registered association was founded in 1936 and deals with "carnival, traditional customs and care for the elderly ". The association, which takes part in the three big parades - Weiberfastnacht , LiKüRa and the Bonn Rose Monday Parade - now has over 500 members.
history
The foundation stone of the Beuel city soldier corps "Red-Blue" was laid on November 11, 1935 in a Beuel restaurant by some members of the "Blumenkranz" society and the festival committee for the Beuel Carnival. There were Hans Peffekoven, Wimar May, Stefan and Michael Schell, Leo Wilbertz, Heinrich and Peter Klöver, Josef Arenz and others. Hans Peffekoven was elected the first commandant .
The colors of the uniforms are red and blue, they were the colors of the municipality of Beuel at that time . Frederician uniforms had been chosen. The first uniforms were initially borrowed from the Herbst pawnshop in Bonn , before they bought their own, which were completed in the workshop of master tailor Karl Wecke.
The first members also included a Tanzmariechen (Margarethe Uhrmacher) and a prince (Martin Weigand). The Corps was able to take part in the carnival for the first time in 1936.
The year 1936 with the color designation “red-blue” was later added to the name “Beueler Stadtsoldaten-Corps”.
The city soldier's dance "Jo, su ne Beuele Jung", written by Josef Nolden and learned from the dance teacher Brück, has been preserved today and has been the Corps' "traditional dance" for years.
Until the foundation of the children's corps in 1938, the corps consisted of only one dance group, today's infantry.
In the following years, in addition to taking part in the Beuel carnival procession, which had now become a "tradition", meetings and stage plays were also performed. Club life then ceased between 1939 and 1945.
After the end of the war, everything that was left was collected and rebuilt. Under Prince Leo I (Schebben) and his Beuela (Gisela Hammer), the first carnival procession after the end of the war was formed in 1950. As background music was needed for the carnival parades and the performances, a fanfare parade was founded. After numerous rehearsals, the Stadtsoldaten-Corps was able to take part in the carnival procession and other events for the first time in 1951 with "own" music.
In 1954 the association joined the Bund Deutscher Karneval and was a founding member of the Siebengebirge Festival Committee , the union of the carnival associations from Beuel to Unkel .
In the 1960s, the Corps provided the Prince of the Siebengebirge twice and organized the Siebengebirgszug in Beuel.
The club's own fanfare band turned into a wind band between 1968 and 1970. On October 25, 1970, the man who had been the first commandant to head the corps since its founding died: Hans Peffekoven. In the same year Leonhard Schebben, Prince of the year 1951, was elected as his successor at an extraordinary general meeting. He held the post of commander until 1973.
In 1971, the first “grand ceremony” took place. In the same year the "Cadet Corps" was founded, an association of young women between 16 and 25 years of age who, as "Mariechengarde", closed the gap between the children's corps and the "large" corps.
In 1974 the association was entered in the register of associations at the Bonn District Court.
In 1977 vacant halls in the bridgehead of Bonn's Kennedy Bridge were rented by the city of Bonn and expanded into today's armory in the following years . With this armory, consisting of a large hall with a stage , a small hall, two counters, kitchen, sanitary facilities, rehearsal rooms, office, archive , storage rooms and vehicle hall, the basis was created for developing all areas further to what it is today. The 1978 annual general meeting was used to convert the “management staff” formed in 1973 out of an emergency into a “executive board ”. This consisted of the commander and chairman, the manager and the treasurer . The treasurer and head of the children's corps, Egon Peffekoven, was elected as the commander and chairman .
The inauguration of the armory on May 13, 1979 was celebrated with a ceremony. The following year, for the first time, a group of riders from the corps took part in the Bonn Rose Monday procession.
In 1981 the Senators of the Corps were combined to form a Senate. The main tasks of the Senate are to provide professional, ideal and material advice and support to the corps. In 1982, with a view to the 50th anniversary of the Corps in 1986, the vehicle fleet was renovated and the flags of the Corps were renewed. The group, which was first used on a trial basis as a "rider group" in 1980, was also incorporated into the entire corps as an independent division "rider corps".
In 1983, together with the two traditional Bonn corps, they took part in the “electoral games” in the Bonn court garden.
In 1984 the Senate had another baggage car built and handed it over to the Corps. The 50th anniversary of the Corps in 1986 was celebrated for a whole year with a variety of events. For the anniversary, the artillery handed over a cannon they had built themselves, which was duly celebrated and named “de decke Marie”.
In 1988 the Corps participated in the inauguration of the new washer's fountain . Heinrich Becker, the last founding member still alive, died on February 16, 1988.
In 1989 the first grand ceremonial meeting took place in the recently completed Beuel Bridge Forum.
In 1990 the Obermöhn again found what it was looking for in the cadet corps of the city soldiers. The washer princess came again from the ranks of the Beuel City Soldier Corps.
Departments
The equestrian corps
It was in 1978 when some of the Beuel city soldiers' hobby riders decided to found a riding group. As early as 1981, during the Rosenmontagszug in Bonn, five city soldiers rode on horseback, including the long-time commander. In 1982 the annual general meeting decided to create an official and regular corps department called the “ Reitercorps ” from the “Reiterhaufen” . On the occasion of the Beuel Promenade Festival, the equestrian corps performed equestrian quadrilles and pas-de-deux dressage in February 1984. Since 1994, the equestrian corps has had its own standard which the equestrian corps carries with it when performing in the hall and on horseback in the carnival parades.
The infantry
The infantry is the origin of the Beuel city soldier corps. When the corps was founded on November 11, 1935, the founding members formed the “dance group” with dance mariechen and dance officer. In 1986, for the 50th anniversary, the cadet corps, the ladies dance corps, which has been "looked after" by the children's corps since its foundation in 1972, was added to the "dance group". The dance group became the infantry department. The infantry is led by the "spear and leader of the infantry". In addition to his role as head of the infantry, he is also responsible as a “spit” for all other departments of the corps.
The figurehead of the infantry and of course the entire corps is the dance couple, dance mariechen and dance officer. The dancing couples are supported in dance by the soldiers who complete the picture during performances. During the performances, without exception, there is dancing to the sounds of the corp's own musical train. In addition to the field kitchen, the infantry also carries a baggage wagon during the carnival parades. This wagon, built according to a historical model, equipped with wooden wheels and a driver's seat, then contains the "camels" and "Strüßje" which the infantry distributes.
The music train
For the first time on November 11, 1950, six fanfare players and four drummers appeared in front of an audience in the Rheingold Theater. For around 15 years they played as a fanfare procession and accompanied the Beuel city soldier corps during their performances. The march in and out of the halls took place with the fanfare marches.
In 1968 the previous fanfares were exchanged for so-called valve fanfares. Thus, in the 1969/1970 session, a “real” marching band with up to 30 men could perform. This could now play on different occasions: rifle parades, Bonn summer appearances, SSF market festival, Pützchen's market , Bonn rowing society, subway inauguration, Christmas light of the Bonn General-Anzeiger, Federal Horticultural Show , Rheinhotel Dreesen, Martinszüge etc. But also in “serious” matters, people came and still occurs: Corpus Christi processions , Christmas masses, funerals ... "everything ... me han everything jebloose, ... vürher un och no-her!" (quote). All members of the music train are members of the Beuel City Soldiers Corps, which is the only corps in the Cologne-Bonn area to have its own music train.
The artillery
When the members of the Beuel City Soldier Corps were preparing for the 50th anniversary of the corps in 1986, some comrades had the idea of getting a cannon with limber and giving it to the corps for its 50th anniversary. In fact, they managed to hand over the cannon and limber to the corps in the arsenal in time for the general roll call on November 9, 1985, which marked the start of the Corps anniversary. She was immediately baptized with the name "de dicke Marie". The builders of the cannon, who were soon referred to as "cannon builders", strove to found their own department within the corps. The Beuel City Soldier Corps now had another department called "Artillery". "De dicke Marie" is a peaceful cannon that can only "boom". With a “shooting permit” from the police from the “ shooting office ”, it may only be used by comrades who have passed the relevant test.
The Landsturm
The “Landsturm”, the “ahl Büggele” of the Corps, was re-established in 2000. Active comrades from the various departments who no longer played music, danced or could join the cavalry corps, formed the basis of the new Landsturm. Minimum age is 45 years.
The children's corps
The children's corps was established as early as 1938 in order to employ its own offspring. Dances were rehearsed with around 20 children and marched through the streets at carnival. The children's corps continued to develop. The children's corps now consists of around 70 children, making it probably one of the largest in the entire Rhineland. In order to keep the young people out of the children's corps for the “big” corps, the “cadet corps” was founded, a group of young women aged 16 and over. Today this group is affiliated with the infantry. The boys of this age could choose between a musical train and a dance group. In this way the gap between children's corps and large corps was closed.
The Senate
The first commander of the Beuel city soldiers began in 1956 to appoint senators to personalities who had in some way contributed to the corps. As an outward sign, they received the corps field cap (boat). The "Collective Sunday" was held annually until 1981. In wind and weather, people went to the individual senators, presented the corps in the "fight against curmudgeon" and with music and dance, and hoped for an appropriate donation for the corps' social needs. The individual senators were combined into a senate and a senate president was elected.
The future tasks of the new Senate are described as follows: Support of the Corps in all matters that cannot be reached by the Corps or can only be achieved with difficulty
- ideal support
- expert advice
- financial support
- Finding and developing financing options
- Mediation of possibilities and ways to achieve upcoming measures and goals.
The future “Collective Sunday” is to take place once during the carnival session as a “Senatorial Evening”, with the Corps providing organizational support. It was agreed that the first "Senator's Evening" should be held as a "Senate Early Pint" in the 1982 carnival session on Sunday, January 24, 1982 at 11.11 am in the armory. This first Senate early pint, which got out of hand until the evening hours, quickly made the previous “collective Sundays” “forgotten”. Since then this morning pint has been held every year.
Elderly care
In addition to its carnival activities, the Beuel City Soldiers Corps also thinks of those people who live in institutions for the elderly and of the elderly at home in general. The Corps organizes two events for care for the elderly, the elderly journey in May of the year and the senior afternoon in Advent. The Monday after Mother's Day in May has been reserved for city soldiers in the Vilich , Pützchen and Ramersdorf retirement homes and in some senior meeting places in Beuel and Vilich for years . The trip goes to the Bergisches Land , the Westerwald , the Ahr region or the Eifel . In the afternoon they stop for coffee and cake and in the evening they return to the armory in Beuel, where after dinner they play for a dance. These senior citizen trips are financed by the annual collection of cans during the carnival session. Beuel companies also donate cakes and food for this event. This type of care was launched in the early 1950s.
For the first time on the 2nd Sunday in Advent in 1992, citizens who had turned 66 or will be 66 this year were invited to a colorful afternoon in the armory with their partner. Coffee and cake, dancing, the Christmas concert of the music train and, as a highlight, the visit of St. Nicholas, who brings a bag for everyone, are on the program.
Pützchens Markt - running a tent economy
Since 1960 the Beuel city soldiers have been represented on Pützchen's market year after year . From 1960 to 1994 they pitched their “tent” in the courtyard of the Marktstrasse 17 property and ran one of the few remaining “housekeeping facilities” that can be traced back to the origins of the Pützchen market. Citizens of Pützchen opened their houses and farms centuries ago in order to offer the pilgrims who worshiped St. Adelheid and who came to Brünnchen every year, accommodation and food in the form of simple home-style cooking . Simple dishes such as pea soup, sausages, cheese bread, potato salad, etc. a. to offer has always been the goal of the city soldiers.
The armory
“If we had met here a year ago, we would have needed rubber boots and an umbrella. Because here it was wet, cold and dark ”. With these words, the now deceased senator and architect Heinz Schmitz symbolically presented the house key to the commanding officer at the time. After about two years of construction, the empty halls in the bridgehead of the Kennedy Bridge on Rheinaustraße became an "armory". After years of temporary work and many hours of work, the Beuel city soldiers have found a permanent home there. Thanks to numerous donations from companies, this work was made possible at all. As the name suggests, the armory is initially used to store the vehicles, equipment, uniforms, etc. of the corps. But the rehearsals of the band, the infantry, the cadet corps and the children's corps also take place there. The spacious rooms can be used for events of all kinds, from costume balls, morning pints to theater performances. Two counters and a cold room serve to manage both meeting rooms, which can be divided into a larger and a smaller room by a partition.
The vehicle fleet
The vehicle fleet of the Beuel City Soldiers Corps consists of
- four baggage cars,
- three field kitchens,
- a field gun,
- a carriage
- a tractor and
- a float.
The baggage wagons are assigned as follows: One each for the children's corps, the infantry and the cavalry corps and one baggage car serves as an ammunition wagon for the artillery. Three wagons were built in-house with the help of a wheelwright, the oldest wagon and the field kitchen used in the carnival parades were built in 1940 and were in use during the Second World War . The field kitchens are used to prepare the famous pea soup used by the Beuel city soldiers. The carriage was specially built for the commander or honorary commander to emphasize his position on the trains. The Senate's float was built on a disused low-loader by the Senators themselves.
Members
The association currently has 527 members (2005) who are in:
- Active
- Inactive,
- Children and
- Senators
split up.
