On Saturday, September 20, 2014, our annual meeting took place in Denkendorf under the motto “Only what you give up is lost”.
Just under an hour before the start of the service, many of us were already in the monastery courtyard to greet the new arrivals from Grossau, whether they were acquaintances or relatives. So that the service was rung in punctually by our Grossauer Gustav Holzinger.
When our brass band sounded the beginning of the service from the choir room of the monastery church, goosebumps were the order of the day. An outstanding sound suddenly resounded in the almost full church. Our well-known parish priests Konrad Schullerus and Mathias Stieger led us through the service. We were accompanied on the organ by Katharina Welther, a well-known organist from Grossau. I would like to thank our two pastors for making us feel at home with their impressive sermon. After the service, everyone was in a hurry to secure the best seat in the festival hall. Unfortunately in vain, as the hall remained locked until most of the churchgoers had also arrived at the hall due to a small breakdown.
Thanks to a hard-working, highly efficient service team, lunch was served to the guests quickly. Many used the short queues at the serving points to chat. There were familiar and unfamiliar faces to be seen, as well as many curious ones. The 500 seats in the hall were quickly filled.
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Photo: Konopkafoto.com
The next item on the program was already on the agenda: We could feel a piece of Grossau again when the 10 traditional costume couples showed us a part of the “Aufnähn”. This part was introduced by our then youth leader Johann Renten, many thanks for his detailed explanation of this old custom. The youth dance group then joined in with the star polka, bringing the total number of traditional costume couples on the dance floor to 20. Finally, there was the joint, traditional parade where the admiring eyes of the guests could not be overlooked. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the children and young people and their parents who did not shy away from the longest distances for the rehearsals. In the meantime, it was cake time and the wide range of cakes on offer was overwhelming, making the choice really difficult. We have our numerous cake donors to thank for that. The festival hall was now so full that even the last available tables were set up. As the brass band played the last tunes of the day, the children and young people of the Friends of Grossau stood behind the curtain ready for their big performance. It was a welcome and very successful premiere of this choreography by Jessica Kastenhuber and Heiko Stieger at our Grossau meeting. I can only hope that we can maintain this energy for the planned youth meeting next year. The momentum of this group is inspiring.
A very nice addition was the presentation by Brigitte Holzinger: “In the alleys of Grossau”. At the beginning, current impressions of the vicarage, the church and the cemetery were shown, followed by a video of all the alleyways and houses in Grossau, shown in sequence in the next room. Sometimes you get a queasy feeling. Not forgetting our church curator Mathias Krauss and his family, who work tirelessly for and in Grossau: in Denkendorf preparing and organizing the roof batten auction and at the information stand for the 2015 youth meeting. Many thanks to all donors, we can still use every euro in the future to master the tasks that lie ahead of us. When the Grossau band, Schlagertaxi, called for dancing in the evening, the dance floor filled up very quickly and remained full round after round until the end. The singing session brought us all a little closer together again.
This time there were more registrations in percentage terms than ever before. Many thanks to all Grossauer for this and keep it up. It gives us more planning security. What remains are many pleasant conversations in a familiar atmosphere, a feeling of togetherness. What remains is the memory of a wonderful festival, which spurs us on to continue. The photos were provided by our “Hobby Grossauer” Ludger Konopka www.konopkafoto.com. Thank you very much. A festival like this has many helpers. Even if not all of them are mentioned by name, our thanks go to all the silent helpers in front of and behind the scenes.
With very best wishes
Your local community in Grossau