1. Between 28 th June & 12 th July 2009 together with Natalie Moore from Yorkshire I was a guest of the Niedersächsisce Landjudgend Federation in the Niedersächsen (Lower Saxony) Area of Germany. The Niedersächsisce Landjudgend Federation has approximately 6000 members. During my time in Lower Saxony I stayed with members of 4 different Landjudgend clubs and also attended their Mach’s Mit! Deustcher Landjugendtag DLT camp in Hohenlohe near Stuttgart in. Flag of Lower Saxony Germany Exchange 2009! Gerald Norman St Albans YFC

2. Map of Germany Niedersächsen (Lower Saxony) This Map shows the whole of Germany. The area in which we stayed (Lower Saxony) is shown in purple and is an area in the North bordering Holland. Although Lower Saxony is only a small part of Germany it still took us approximately 4 hours to travel by train across Lower Saxony. Lower Saxony covers an area of 18,388 square miles & has population of approximately 7,977,000. Agriculture plays a very important economic factor in Lower Saxony.

3. Kathrin Schulte Johanna BendigLena Glenewinkel Soren Dreb Picked us up from the Airport! Henning Schulte 1 st Host 2 nd Host3 rd Host4 th Host Maike Arens

4. The Town of Leer in Osfriesland Equestrian training Centre in Ostfriesland

5. This is where grass & maize silage is put in fermenting tanks and the gas is burnt to produce electricity Bio – gas station This Farmer had a bio-gas plant on his farm as well as he was also a Agricultural Contractor

6. We visited a John Deere dealership and looked at a castle

7. We visited a dairy farm that had a robotic milking machine with a built in robotic feeding system, this allowed the cows to be milked whenever they wanted to be and were feed the correct amount of nutrients required while the farmer drunk tea! Dairy cows wearing electronic collars Feed wagon Robotic milking machine

8. PAPENBURG is famous for building Big cruise ships in Germany, to get the ships out they have to shut the electricity off in the local area for a short time.

9. This bridge is the smallest in Germany measuring only 2m 5cm wide just enough to get a car through Car ferry of which I’d had ago of pulling it across which was fun using a special piece of wood shaped like a hook which you grabbed the metal cable with and pulled to make the ferry move along the river!

10. Ostfriesland Cattle Market

11. We visited a dairy farm that made its own cheese and regularly gave tours round its farm.

12. Joanna! This is where my host Joanna live in Gollern just below Hannover and her family had just recently invested in a new Bio-gas plant on their farm just on the outskirts of the village as pictured below. 2nd Host

13. Just a selection of interesting machinery we came across!! The biggest sugar beet harvester in Europe! The smallest tractor in the village!

14. The start on the DLT 2009 waiting for the ZonderZug Train at Hamburg Station The ZonderZug Dlt Partywagon Empty! Joanna! The guys playing games!

15. The ZonderZug Dlt Partywagon video! This is what happens when young farmers drink on trains!

16. The Route of the Zonderzug train from Hamburg! Stuttgart! Campsite @ DLT Hohenlohe Zonderzug!

17. My excursion was to a historic castle and a automobile museum nearby On the DLT each person was assigned a visit to different places in the local area and we were transported by coaches

18. Marcel! Joanna! Henning! Waiting to go back on the train! Deere! Deere The bar! The main disco area

19. 4 th Host Lena Glenewinkel The Family!! Friends & family at the BBQ!!

20. We visited a local zoo and saw a wide variety of animals but couldn’t find the Big wild Cat in the enclosure.. Maybe it had escaped?

21. The Hameln famous place of the Piped piper who lead the rats away from the town

22. We visited a Big Bio- Gas Plant built on a old N.A.T.O Base I was allowed to take the farmer’s loading shovel for a test drive!! Below is one of four Scania diesel engines This is a picture of the site and you can see the silage clamp and bunkers in the background! To the right is showing the computer system that runs the station.

23. This bike frame alone costs 2000€ In the neighbouring village of our 3 rd host they manufactured specialist bike frames in a small factory unit

24. We visited special place where they teach horses to do amazing performances in a arena. We also got to look round a museum with different types of saddles and related items dating back to the 1800’s These are two of the horses we got to meet

25. We visited a commercial pig unit & chicken unit

26. Tarmstedter Ausstellung Is a main agricultural show just below Hamburg

27. The last standing Cathedral In Hamburg after the bombing of World War 2 St Michaels Church in the city centre of Hamburg

28. I would like to thank the NFYFC Discovery Programme for giving me the opportunity to travel to Germany. I would also like to thank the Leighton Buzzard YFC Martin Senior Travel Fund and Bedfordshire YFC for giving me funding towards my trip. I would like to thank the NFYFC Discovery Programme for giving me the opportunity to travel to Germany. I would also like to thank Manja Prelle and her Niedersächsisce Landjugend team for making feel welcome in Germany. Also a big thank to my county organiser for helping me This trip has without a doubt been a unforgettable experience Through this I have made new friends and eaten way too many sausages! Gerald Norman St Albans YFC