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Town twinning

Introduction

Where is Calderdale?

Calderdale is an area covering 363 square kilometres in West Yorkshire nestling in the heart of the Yorkshire Pennines. It has a population of 196,000 and Halifax is the main town of the area. The economy is traditionally based on industry, which is still very important to the area despite the decline in the textile industry. However service industries now provide more jobs than manufacturing industry. Calderdale is easily accessible from most parts of Britain. The M62 runs along the South of Calderdale with links to M1 and M6. Visitors from Europe could use North Sea Ferries and be in Calderdale from Hull in about an hour. Regular train services connect Calderdale with Leeds and Manchester, where there are international airports.

About the people here

People in Calderdale are like the area itself. They love the countryside, enjoy walks in the Pennines or take a ride in a canal narrowboat through the valleys. The area offers great possibilities for days out or simply little bit of shopping and after an exciting and busy day, people in Calderdale like to eat out in small individual restaurants or have a 'cup of tea' and meet with friends. But they also like to meet people from other areas and other countries, learn about them and bring them to Calderdale and introduce the area to them.

History of twinning

Already in the first years after World War Two, people in Halifax established the first friendship with an area in a foreign country. The first link was set up in 1949 between Halifax Borough Council and the City of Aachen in Germany. There soon followed the link between Brighouse and Ludenscheid, Germany in 1950. Further links were established between Elland and Riorges, France (1978), Calderdale and County Mayo, Ireland (1990), Calderdale and Strakonice, Czech Republic (1992), Calderdale and Musoma, Tanzania (1992) and finally Calderdale and Halifax, Nova Scotia (1994).

There is a second tier of links in Calderdale. Todmorden Town Council is twinned with Roncq in France and Bramsche in Germany. Hebden Royd Town Council is twinned with St Pol in France and Warstein in Germany. All four of these are thriving links, well supported by local twinning organisations

What twinning means for us all

The twin links are permanent links. They consist of civic ties between Councils, which involves a rolling programme of inward and outward civic visits, but more significantly has led to some limited joint working between Calderdale services and their counterparts abroad.

But most importantly, the twin links are links between ordinary people of those areas. Individuals and groups regularly exchange visits, stay with friends' families abroad or in Calderdale and learn about the foreign country and the life of ordinary people there. People of all ages and occupations, school exchange, youth camps, sport clubs or brass bands take part in twinning programme and activities. Formed friendships overcome the borders and create an atmosphere of understanding and partnership. Twin links open a window in Europe and the wider world and through this window more and more people travel to foreign countries.

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