Frome is celebrating a 50-year twinning partnership with French town Château-Gontier-sur-Mayenne.
The Frome Twinning Association, which establishes contacts between people and groups in the towns, began a partnership with Château-Gontier-sur-Mayenne, in the north-western region of France, in 1975.
Over the past 50 years, the two towns have shared many exchanges, including visits by sports clubs, choirs, schools and fire services, joint remembrance services, and both official council and personal visits.
To celebrate the partnership, a group from Château-Gontier-sur-Mayenne are due to visit Frome this weekend to stay with host families and to attend the Frome Cheese and Agricultural Show on Saturday 13th September, with a buffet dinner in the evening. On Sunday afternoon, cider tasting and a barbecue has been arranged with the kind agreement of Lilley’s Cider.
On Sunday morning, the normal church service at St. John’s Church will include a recognition of this long relationship with our French twin with attendance by the Deputy Mayor of Château-Gontier, Frome Town Councillors and representatives of both twinning associations.
After the service at 11.15am, a special ceremony will take place to mark this anniversary in front of St. John’s Church, where the formal signing of the twinning charter took place at this same spot, witnessed by a large number of Frome residents.
“If current residents of Frome would like to come along for this ceremony, they will be very welcome,” said chair of Frome Twinning Association Justin Worringham.
“Twinning between British and French towns began in 1920 as a result of the First World War, but such relationships accelerated and expanded to other countries after the Second World War with the aim of promoting understanding and peace between the peoples of Europe.”
The Frome Twinning Association aims to promote an understanding between the people of the twinned towns, their culture, their traditions and organisations. Frome is also twinned with Rabka-Zdrój in Poland and Murrhardt in Germany and most recently launched a partnership with Pieve di Soligo in northern Italy.
