The Baldock Town Twinning Association is reflecting on another successful year, as visitors from Baldock went to explore its German twin town while counterparts from France came to North Herts.
The group celebrated the 20th anniversary of its partnership with French twin town Sanvignes-les-Mines in 2017, and the 30th anniversary of its partnership with German twin town Eisenberg in 2018.
Both celebrations demonstrated the strong links that exist between the towns and the members of the twinning associations of those towns. This is further reinforced with Eisenberg and Sanvignes having been twinned together since 1970.
Over the years the partnerships between the towns have led to many long-standing personal friendships and these friendships will undoubtedly continue for many more years.
This year members from Baldock visited Eisenberg in July and visitors from Sanvignes visited our market town in August.
One of the most recent new members wrote to the chairman Paul Luckett after participating in this year's exchange visits for the first time.
They said: "I have just had a super weekend and all because I joined town twinning.
"I had thought about joining and put it off for several years mainly on the grounds of not having enough time.
"Well it's a commitment of just a long weekend each year actually, so not much time, and I wish it could have been longer!
"It was great to share information, experiences and loads of laughs with people from another country, sharing our ideas and yes even problems. I can highly recommend it.
"There's a lot of friendly people in Sanvignes-les-Mines in Burgundy and in Eisenberg in western Germany - I'm looking forward to finding someone here to exchange with.
"I got to use my French which was great fun, but not essential, and I hope to learn some German for next year when I meet my new German friends."
The twinning programme is looking to attract new members. In an effort to widen the appeal, a pen pal project has been started between St Mary's Junior School in Baldock and schools in Sanvignes which has so far led to an exchange of letters between schoolchildren and Skype calls between teachers.
Anyone interested in joining Baldock Town Twinning Association should contact secretary Viv Reed on 07815 308124.
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