Stammtisch

There is obviously a lot of uncertainty and speculation around Brexit at this moment in time. If Article 50 is triggered by the government and negotiations with the EU are concluded, only then will we know for certain, what changes there will be for UK/EU businesses, what it means for EU/UK residency and movement between countries.

In the absence of clarity, I thought I might from time to time share information from various sources that may be helpful or give some food for thought.

The German Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DIHK) now distributes a monthly newsletter re Brexit. If this is of interest to you, here’s a link to register for it. Ireland’s economy, for example, is heavily dependent on trading with the UK and the possible impact was investigated in a report by Dr. Voker Treier (DIHK), Dr. Brian Murphy (Dublin Institute of Technology) and Ralf Lissek. Click here for the publication.

If there are any areas of interest regarding Brexit, please let me know and I will keep my eye out for relevant information.

You may be aware that Germany has around 1,500 forest and nature kindergartens/ groups – the umbrella assocation is the Bundesverband der Natur- und Walkindergärten. Children and their ‘Erzieher’ spend all day outside, playing and exploring their environment – no matter what the weather is like. If you search on YouTube, you can find many examples of videos of such Kindergartens – here’s an introduction.

If you would like to follow in the little ones footsteps, why not explore Northumberland National Park? They are organising a guided Winter Walk in Coquetdale on Sunday, 5 February between 10.30am and 2.30pm. Click here to register.

Have you heard yet about ‘The National Gin Museum‘? Well, it’s a news story I came across on local tv earlier this week. The Managing Director of the Gin Company, that produces the very nice ‘Steampunk Gin’ here in Gateshead, would like to get funding to create exactly that here in the North East. You can either simply donate a sum or donate and get a reward – for example £50 will get you a bottle of gin, plus two entrance tickets. More information can be found on Crowdfunder.

If you now have a drink on your mind, you may want to meet up tomorrow, Thursday, 19 January with the InterNations Group in Newcastle. They meet for the first time in 2017 and the venue is Browns Bar in Grey Street, Newcastle, where you can mingle with people from over 26 countries from 6pm.

Enjoy the rest of this week & all the very best for 2017!