Uli Rietmann

Uli Rietmann is head of the library in Seppenrade, gives swimming lessons, works in the daycare center, is active in refugee aid, is a games expert and so on and so forth

When you're out and about in the city with Uli Rietmann, you hear everywhere: "Hello Uli! "Hi Uli!" "Hey Uli!" It feels like the 51-year-old knows everyone. "I think that's really great. I've met most of the people from Lüdinghausen and Seppenrad somewhere in the course of my many activities," says Uli Rietmann.

And the list of her activities is long: she works in the Felizitas library in Lüdinghausen, in the OGS in the Marienschule Seppenrade, gives swimming lessons, runs the Catholic library in Seppenrade on a voluntary basis, is a voluntary confidant in the day care center in Seppenrade, supervises a dementia play group in the Clara-Stift, is active in refugee aid, is a games expert and co-developed the Lüdinghausen game "StadtLandBurg". I'm sure we've forgotten something else at this point. "I really enjoy all of this. And I only do what I enjoy," says the Seppenrad native, adding with a twinkle in her eye: "Brace yourself: Maybe a little too much of that."

Swimming training: an affair of the heart

You can't make Uli Rietmann happy with money. "I'm much happier when a little boy stands in front of me and says: "Uli, I'm a super swimmer, aren't I?" Over the past 20 years, she has taught around 350 children in Lüdinghausen how to swim. "When I was five years old, two children drowned in a pool in my home town," says the Seppenrad native. She has been swimming ever since and was also a youth swimming coach. "I'm happy about every child I can give safety in the water." She has also done relaxation exercises in the water with Ukrainian refugees. "All funded by donations. That was great."

Helping refugees

Speaking of refugee aid: when there was an emergency shelter with barbed wire and security in Seppenrade during the great wave of refugees in 2015, Uli Rietmann and other committed women from Seppenrade asked at the gate of the shelter if they could do something with the children. They were allowed to. "We read to the boys and girls, painted and played. And my daughter even learned Arabic here." Even today, Uli Rietmann helps many refugee families with the "paperwork". "The German bureaucracy has a lot of hurdles."

Playing games is her great passion

Her greatest passion is board games, and she is the "Games Uli" in both the Felizitas library and the library in Seppenrade. She knows every game, goes to game fairs and organizes the game nights. And she also gets the games out with the children in the red rocket, her group room in the after-school care at Seppenrade elementary school. "At first, I felt guilty that I was being paid to play. But children simply learn a lot through playing and develop special skills." Last but not least, together with other Lüdinghausen games experts, she developed the "StadtLandBurg" game, which is available from Lüdinghausen Marketing, at Vischering Castle and in bookshops in the town.

When she has a bit of free time, Uli Rietmann enjoys exploring the Münsterland region with her husband. And preferably by e-bike. "The battery has to be full, the bike has to run. And a delicious piece of cake on the way. Then I'm happy and satisfied". Nadine Wenge