Town Twinning
Abingdon's Twin Towns
Abingdon has close links, built up over many years, with its four twin towns: Argentan, France; Lucca, Italy; Schongau, Germany and Sint-Niklaas, Belgium.
There are also close connections with Colmar in France which is twinned with the Vale of White Horse District Council.
Argentan was Abingdon's first twin town with whom it twinned in 1956.
Argentan is a town in Southern Normandy, comparative in size to Abingdon, It lies in beautiful countryside, amongst stud farms and the Route du Fromage. The town hosts the annual Quasimodo Agricultural Fair the weekend after Easter, a colourful event at which Abingdon is always represented.
In 1967 Sint-Niklaas became Abingdon's second twin town.
At that time, Sint-Niklaas, which is situated in the heart of Flemish Belgium, between Antwerp and Ghent, was a small town set to grow very quickly. Sint-Niklaas now boasts the largest Market Square in Europe where each September the end of the Nazi occupation is remembered and celebrated in an international hot air balloon festival launched from the Market Place.
Sint-Niklaas was already twinned with the towns of Colmar, Lucca and Schongau. As the Borough Council was keen to promote twinning links with European countries at this time, Abingdon soon became twinned with Schongau (1970) and Lucca (1972).
Schongau is situated in Bavaria and is a delightful walled old town with an important paper industry Closeby are King Ludwig's castle at Neuschwanstein and Oberammergau, famous for its Passion Plays.
Lucca in Tuscany is another beautiful walled town and the birthplace of Puccini, among others. It is also famous for its olive oil. It has an extensive printing industry, and therefore a shared interest in paper with Schongau.
As Abingdon was already twinned with a French town, Colmar twinned with the wider Vale of White Horse District Council.
Colmar is the capital of the Alsace wine-producing region and is close to the river Rhine and the Vosges Mountains. The old town is particularly beautiful with its cobbled streets and many half-timbered buildings of the 16th and 17th centuries.
As Abingdon, Lucca, Schongau, Sint-Niklaas and Colmar are twinned with eachother, we form part a unique five-star twinning arrangement.
Contacts:
Abingdon's Twinning Officer, Marianne Milburn, can be contacted at twinning@abingdon.gov.uk regarding any town twinning enquiries.
Abingdon also has a very active twinning society, the Abingdon & District Twin Towns Society, that organises many twinning events and visits to and from our twin towns.
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Twin Towns Conference 2010 - Sint-Niklaas
A delegation of five people from Abindgon went across to the twin towns conference from Friday 10th to Monday 13th December 2010, Alastair Fear and Angela Lawrence went on behalf of the Town Council, Michael Matthews, Brian Read, and Ian Jardine went on behalf of the twinning society.
The annual Twin Towns Conference is where the grouping of five twin towns, Abingdon, Colmar (France), Lucca (Italy), Sint Niklaas (Belgium), and Schongau (Germany) all send delegates to discuss a theme important for the EU - who help fund the conference. This year has been dedicated by the EU to addressing child poverty and social exclusion, and the subject of the conference was child poverty. It took place in Sint-Niklaas.
Across Europe, whole families – children, parents and grandparents – find it hard to escape poverty as it is passed on from one generation to another. The ongoing global financial crisis is worsening the problem among children: today, there are 19 million European children living in poverty. Poverty is defined as people with an income 60% below the European median. It is seen as a scandal by many that in Europe where there is so much prosperity, so many are trapped in poverty. The lack of opportunity in some places leads to emigration to other regions where there is work. Cuts made because of the current economic crisis often affects children more than others as they feel the brunt of the cuts in reductions in welfare payments, and education.
The conference began with a presentation by Unicef from Belgium. They presented a study where children experiencing poverty in Belgium talked about their lives and their aspirations. The messages coming from the children can be seen at http://www.unicef.be/fr/project-belgium/what-do-you-think.
Each of the five countries then gave a presentation about aspects of child poverty.
Abingdon - Facilitation of access to culture and leisure activities
Lucca - Health Care
Colmar - Children's rights
Schongau - Housing
Sint-Niklaas - Poverty among immigrants
Delegates then visited a Red Cross Centre for refugees seeking asylum, and visited a volunteer group that cares for immigrants without proper papers.
As well as the business of the conference, there were cultural visits.
We all visited the main museum showing the history of Sint-Nikllaas. The journey between Ghent and Antwerp used to take two days, and Sint- Niklaas was founded as a half-way point between these two ancient cities. The museum is built onto a closed-down linen factory where all the machines are still in place.
There was a choice of visits after the museum: Sint-Niklaas, Ghent, or Antwerp. This was followed by the official meals where each country presents gifts to the others. We gave a picture of St Nicholas Church to Sint-Niklaas, and Abingdon mugs to the two Sint-Niklaas twinning officers. Lucca had the good idea of putting their presentation onto a CD to give to the other delegations. We were also given various gifts, and information promoting the other twin towns to bring back.It was an interesting and thought provoking trip. We are very grateful to Sint-Niklaas for their warm welcome, care and hospitality.
Report by Councillor Alastair Fear
Burgess Twinning Fund
Congratulations to Melissa Stewart and Lisa Phan who were awarded grants from the Burgess Twinning Fund to visit Colmar and compare antenatal care and postnatal care in Colmar and the Vale of White Horse District.