Remscheid Town Twinning Visit September 2023
Deputy Civic Head Cllr. Vicky Brown was delighted to be attending Remscheid's Day of the Associations 2023.
Back in January of this year Ashington Town Council received the first invitation to the Day of the Associations since before the Covid Pandemic, the last visit took place in 2018.
The 'Weekend of the Delegations from the Remscheid Twin Towns' took place from Friday the 1st of September to Monday 4th of September 2023 with a full schedule planned for all who attended from across the world.
The Civic Head, travelled with a delegation of two other Councillors from Ashington Town Council, Cllr. Louis Brown and Cllr. Pauline Thompson as well as the Clerk and Mayor from Newbiggin Town Council and members from the Town Twinning Association.
The party visited Mungsten Bridge, Burg Castle and the Ehlis File Factory on the Saturday before attending the Official Opening of the 'Day of the Associations' followed by a reception of the twin towns on Sunday.
The Civic Head comments: "the visit was very informative, and it was good to see many of the other members town twinned with Remscheid, some of whom we have met in previous visits. The hospitality was excellent, and I am particularly thankful to Beatrice who translated my speech, and the staff, Sarah, Denise, Emily and Sabine who were all lovely and very helpful."
From the Lord Mayor of Remscheid, Burkhard Mast-Weisz, "Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, it was a great pleasure and an honour for us that the twin towns accepted our invitation. For several years now, we have been inviting delegations from our twin towns to Remscheid every three years on the occasion of the "Day of Associations". During the weekend we had the opportunity to exchange ideas intensively and also opened the "Day of Associations" together and visited the associations. This visit was an appreciation of all those who present their voluntary work in Remscheid.
Our twinning associations also live exclusively from voluntary work. We owe them all our thanks. They render outstanding services to our city and to the relations with our twin towns.
Our twinning arrangements are a valuable sign of the European idea. Each individual twinning has its own history. Reconciliation after the Second World War was the driving force behind the partnerships with Quimper and Ashington and Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, in succession to the former Wansbeck district; Presov stands for the end of the Cold War; Mragovo for the origins of many elderly people whose families come from the former Sensburg; Pirna for the end of the German-German division; Kirsehir for the many who came to us from Turkey and have called both cities home for decades. And the friendship with Schmalkalden is rooted in their shared history as a tool town.
Remscheid is a city where people from over 120 countries have found their home. We are a European city. I am very proud of that. We will do everything to ensure that the wonderful idea of a free, peaceful and open Europe continues to be lived with great commitment in our city, in all cities. Our meeting this year is an important sign of this. Many greetings from Remscheid"
