Any info on Abingdon or Gutersloh.

[angel387]

Hi. I'm new here. DH is in the army and Abingdon and Gutersloh are his choices for his next posting.
We have a 12 year old ds, a 9 year old dd and a baby on the way and have never lived in married quarters before. I change my mind each day over where I think would be best. Could anyone please help with some info on housing, schools anything really that might help.

It all depends whereabouts in Bielefeld they offer you - quelle is 10 minutes from Gutersloh whereas Heepen would be more like half an hour away! Quelle is ok but no great if you don't drive as theres not much to do without transport there. Or would his job be in Bielefled too? We've just come from there and we loved it. DS2 was born in the hospital there and the kids loved it too.

His job would be in Bielefeld too. I think he's decided on Bielefeld. I'm alot happier with the idea of Germany too, actually quite excited. We will probably end up with Abingdon now :)

Give me a shout if you do end up in Bielefeld. We've just come from there so I should be able to help with most things. Fingers crossed for you - Bielefeld is lovely! You can always PM me if you've go any questions about regiments etc which you'd rather not go into on the public boards.

Ahhhh, am so envious. We are in Paderborn at the moment and due to move back to UK in April. I am distraught.....Fingers crossed, am sure you will love Germany.

My son is stationed at Abingdon and shortly to move there because daughter-in-law has just left the army and they were housed in Gloucester.
He works in Abingdon but has been commuting every day from Gloucester.
I'm pleased because Abingdon is only 40 minutes from me whereas Gloucester was hour and a half, so I'll get to see grandson [nearly 2] more often.

We're not in Gutersloh but still Germany. I think the quarters are much better than at home although I'm sure I'll really miss the space when we get back to the UK it's great now. Older children might find it harder to find stuff to do, welfare tends to provide stuff for primary school age children or younger (here at least) I think parents with secondary school age children need to be a bit more proactive.
I feel that it is a lot more expensive to live in Germany if you have children. LOA has been drastically reduced because the army's "shopping basket" would show that there is less difference between the cost of goods here compared to the UK now but children's clothes, toys, etc cost more money. Nappies, especially if you like a particular brand and Baby formula milk are VERY expensive.
Getting back to the UK from where I am is a real pain but the army are going to increase the number of paid trips back to uk from one to three as long as you are all going as a family and your husband has a leave pass in.

Will your baby be born before the move? If not it's worth bearing in mind that German hospitals do not have gas and air. Excellent by all accounts but no gas and air.

Also is it likely that your husband will be doing an op tour whilst you're here? Mine is about to and whilst our welfare is excellent and the patch is great, being so far away from family and friends that you've known for that bit longer (your usual support network) is just an added layer of difficulty.

I don't sound very positive about the place at the moment sorry, (pre deplyment is quite a crap time)I thought I would love germany, never really thought I was the type to miss the UK.

It's not the picnic is once was.

I think that is mainly due to money, Germany postings used to be a real earner and you could afford a really good lifestyle but the cuts in LOA and the rubbish value of the pound compared to the euro means this is no longer the case.

I meant to preview that before I posted it, it sounded like one huge moan. It's not all bad! just not quite the fantastic time and spare cash that I was promised.