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Town Twinning
‘Twinning’ has become the common term to describe a special relationship between two communities. In Germany it is called ‘partnerschaft’ (partnership); in France ‘jumelage’; in the USA, Australia and New Zealand ‘sister cities’.
There have no doubt always been a few relationships where there has been a common interest or particular connection between two places. These were different from the carefully nurtured relationships which developed after World War II when people of goodwill sought consciously to build up contact and friendship with communities in other countries and to promote a better understanding in the future.
The first known ‘twinning’ happened after the First World War when a soldier returned from Poix-du-Nord in France to Keighley, and subsequently an official twinning took place in 1920. By 1962 there were 192 twinnings and today there are more than 1,700.
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