Speech by the HarpendenTown Mayor, Councillor Rosemary Farmer
Alzey 50th Town Twinning Celebrations – Saturday 24 August 2013
Ladies and Gentleman or may I say “dear friends”,
I am delighted to be in Alzey again on the wonderful occasion of the 50th anniversary of Harpenden’s twinning with Alzey and the 40th anniversary of Alzey’s twinning with Josselin. When preparing my speech for this evening I thought I would do some research into the history of town twinning and was quite surprised to learn that the first recorded town twinning goes back to the first half of the 19th century. The twinning movement, however, really took off in the late 1940s with the strong support of civic leaders and communities in the ardent belief that such links had a major role to play in a peaceful Europe bound by ties of friendship.
Like all the best friendships and families town twinning is highly flexible bringing communities together to share problems, exchange views and understand and celebrate both our differences and similarities taking the best our communities have to offer.
Twinning is also an opportunity to celebrate a shared cultural heritage in literature, music and the fine arts and the diversity each nation and their communities bring through their own development and reinterpretation of shared roots through many centuries.
One of the great benefits of twinning is the opportunities it provides for our young people to mix together. This helps them grow in awareness of and respect for other cultures whilst developing their own self confidence. I have been privileged, on several occasions, to see this in action with school visits from Alzey to Harpenden. It is always a delight to speak to the young people and to hear about their plans to get the most of each other’s company forming new friendships and enjoying themselves. It seems to me that pure enjoyment is, or should be, a major element of twinning.
As we celebrate the golden and ruby anniversaries (not sure if you have the same but in England 50 years of marriage is a Golden Anniversary and 40 years a Ruby) what a great example of the long term commitment that goes with twinning. Part of that long term relationship lies in the ability to renew and refresh. I doubt if many of us here who can remember 50 years ago would have envisaged the digital world we now live in or the environmental pressures our world faces. This stimulating conference we are participating in as a celebration of twinning is in itself an example of twinning continually evolving and staying relevant.
I am honoured to be here as the Civic Representative of Harpenden in my capacity as Mayor. Equally important, indeed perhaps more important, is the active involvement of our citizens and without whom there is no twinning. The Friends of Alzey and The Friends of Harpenden work tirelessly to the forging of friendships and a common understanding through exchange visits and in Harpenden arranging local events to bring Alzey to our residents through various social occasions and regular German conversation evenings.
A major change in the last 50 years is that so many of us now routinely travel abroad but visiting friends remains very special. In this digital age of emails, texting, tweeting and twittering a key benefit of twinning remains this personal contact.
My and Harpenden’s best wishes to Alzey and Josselin on this great occasion and long may twinning continue.