Interview with Mr. Werner

May 12, 2011 0 Comments

Interview with Mr. Werner in Balmertshofen March 17^th, 2011

The interview was held by Friedrich Sackmann, ViLE e.V. Group, Germany

Comment: Mr. Ulrich Hans Werner is 70 years old and lives with his wife Elisabeth Werner-Pennther in Balmertshofen, a village in the small market town of Pfaffenhofen. The couple has two children and five grand-children.

Dear Mr. Werner, in February of 2010 you were honored by our Landrat (Head of our County Neu-Ulm) Erich Josef Geßner in a festive ceremony with an Honorary Degree for volunteer work and also given a diploma. This Honorary Degree is awarded to citizens by the State of Bavaria through the Ministerpräsident (President of the Bavarian Ministry). This is a very high award given for years of successful volunteer work for the good of the community. Here is a list of what you have achieved:

12 years as head organizer of our community college (Volkshochschule) in our community of Pfaffenhofen
28 years as secretary of our volunteer fire brigade in Balmertshofen, including the keeping up of the club chronicle
Organization and implementation of the 100 years celebration of the fire brigade
12 years as head of the Schützenverein (Marksman Association) Balmertshofen and in succession having worked as secretary
10 years secretary of the Gardening Club Pfaffenhofen
6 years one of the leading roles in the School of Music Weißenhorn (Musikschule)
18 years (three terms of office) on the political community council of Pfaffenhofen

What honorary positions do you still hold today?

I still volunteer as one of the heads in the Gardening Club and act as secretary for the Marksmen.

What has motivated you for this work?

I like to organize things and enjoy their being successful. I hold the opinion that if one is able to do something one ought to do it. I was educated and trained by society, now it is my duty to give something back. Not everybody is able to carry through with difficult and responsible work. It is my strength to be able to organize well and to delegate parts of the job to others. This creates a sense of satisfaction amongst the others I work with.

It was a very attractive kind of work in addition to my regularly paid job. I got to meet a lot of interesting people and this was of use to me privately and on my job as a head of a bank. I gained a lot of experience and learned a lot for ex. giving speeches.

Did your volunteer work bring about important changes in your life?

Not really, but I did have less time for my family. Some of these volunteer jobs lost on interest for me over the time, so I started new things. There also was a lot of “invisible” work in the background which others could not see, I had to think a lot of things over and make plans. A disadvantage was that I had a very tight schedule, which in turn influenced family matters.

This was a consequence for your personal life. Were there other effects?

Well, my family did have to stand back because I had less time at home.

About how much of your time did these activities take up?

That differed a lot depending on how much work had to be done at the given time, sometimes it took up to ten hours a week, usually it evened out to about five hours.

Was your volunteer work for the community connected with other problems?

Well, one has to get organized and to partition out ones time. Often the preparations were cumbersome, one had a schedule to meet and that was sometimes stressful because things had to be done at a certain time. Also one was under pressure if the things one had planned were actually going to work out and be successful or not.

What was the most stressful thing for you?

I felt stressed by discussions with the other Markträte (Members of the political community council) when decisions were made on an emotional basis and other Markträte showed up to meetings without being prepared for the topics to be dealt with.

Mrs. Werner-Penther, how did you experience the dedicated volunteerism of your husbands?

It was an enrichment of my life, I got to meet a lot of interesting people and we attended many interesting gatherings.

Mr. Werner, would you like to add anything?

Due to my honorary volunteer activities my private hobbies fell a bit behind, for ex. I had very little time for my hobby bee-keeping, my garden and travelling.

On the other hand my numerous activities were very enjoyable and I was acknowledged and became rather well known in the community. I was able to meet people I would not have been able to get to know otherwise. My life has been enriched by my volunteer activities. To sum up, it was a very positive experience.

Mrs. Werner-Penther, Mr. Werner, thank you for this interview!