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May - 2007. Maybole – Crosne 25th Anniversary. A party from
Maybole Town Twinning travelled to Crosne to celebrate the 25th
anniversary of the signing of twinning and the Carnival.
They were also joined by twinners
from Schotten, Germany; Beloeil, Belgium; Arco, Italy; Bogen,
Germany and Rymarov, Czech Republic. Celebrations began on the
Friday evening with the official ceremony of the 25th
anniversary of twinning. The festivities began with a parade from
Rue de Maybole to Espace Rene Fallet where the official part of the
evening was held. Speeches on the history and future of the twinning
link were made by Alain Gerard, Mayor of Crosne, Daniel Robin ,
President of Town Twinning Crosne, and William Grant – President of
Town Twinning Maybole.
Speeches of congratulations were
made by the other assembled town twinners, before small gifts were
exchanged. The young people of Bellevue College, who had visited
Carrick Academy, Maybole in March this year, then gave an excellent
rendition of songs of Robert Burns. This part of the evening then
finished with the singing of the European anthem “Ode to Joy”. An
excellent buffet and cutting of a cake was enjoyed by all. Saturday
morning saw every body up early for a visit to Paris for a guided
tour of the Museum Carnavalet, famous for its paintings of Paris
throughout the ages. The afternoon was free time and then it was
time to return to Crosne where the evening was spent with hosts
before the torchlight procession through the town that started at
10pm.
On Sunday morning there was a
guided visit to the Park Caillebotte in the nearby town of Yerres,
and, on return to Crosne, lunch alfresco was enjoyed in the garden
of the Deputy Mayor Marylene Laug. The Carnival took place in the
afternoon with masses of people taking part; the theme for this year
was “The Cinema”. In the evening the group was treated to a giant
BBQ before attending an open air concert which climaxed in a
magnificent fireworks display at midnight. The return leg of the
celebrations will take place in Maybole over the weekend 28 – 30
September 2007. If you would like to be involved and could host up
to 2 people please contact William Grant on 01655883312.
The speech of William J Grant,
Chairman of Maybole Town Twinning.
It is amazing to think that we are
celebrating 25 years since we first signed our twinning agreement
with Crosne away back in 1982.
What is town twinning?
Twinning towns is a wonderful way
of bonding communities in long-term friendships. It also helps to
foster understanding and tolerance by giving people from twin towns
the chance to learn about another culture, language, history and way
of life. This is especially important for young people who may not
have had a chance to leave their home town. For them, the twinning
relationship offers an opportunity to broaden horizons as well as
nurture important qualities such as openness and acceptance.
It is indeed excellent that in the
last 2 years we have managed to arrange school exchanges between
Crosne and Maybole and we hope these will continue, building on the
friendship that has been created between the schools.
Twinning can fulfill several of the
most human needs, companionship, activity, adventure, curiosity. It
is a means of understanding other peoples, their culture, lifestyle,
food, language. You make new friends, sometimes for life, and are
accepted into families.
Twinning began in the late 1940s
as a means of reconciling European nations that had been torn apart
by war. Historians often cite the twinning of Orléans (France) and
Dundee (Scotland) in 1946 as the first modern twinning arrangement.
As the benefits of the movement became apparent, twinning became a
world-wide phenomenon.
As it was set out to do, town
twinning in forging partnerships, and continues to make an important
contribution to this dynamic process of bringing European people
together. It has helped to change Europe forever, gone are the days
of dictatorships, East and west, today in this the 21st
century , we live in a Europe where the concept “Liberty, Equality,
Fraternity” flourishes, we live in ‘a peoples Europe’.
The very best way of building trust,
understanding and friendship between people in Europe is by meeting
together, sharing experiences and learning from each other.
Maybole Town Twinning
Association is proud of its history in twinning, we are proud that
our twinning has always been and hopefully will continue to be a
peoples twinning, built on the friendship of individuals but most
importantly the family.
Through this twinning of the
people we the citizens of Maybole and Crosne, and of course our
fellow twinners from Beloeil, Schotten , Arco, Bogen, Ozimek and
Rymarov have in our own way helped to break down the barriers of
language, race and creed, but in doing this we have not forgotten
our own individuality. We are part of a Europe in which we can
exchange opinions and enjoy joint activities between our twinning
family.
The arranging of twinning events
through all these years of course takes a lot of hard work and we
thank all those who have giving of their time freely, working for
the twinning between Maybole and Crosne, making all the events over
the years so successful. At this tine we remember our fellow
twinners who sadly are no longer with us.
Today is an important day for us
all, and indeed it is excellent that in tonight’s programme we have
young people from the college singing songs of Robert Burns. Robert
Burns of course is Scotland’s national poet and his words can relate
to the concept “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” as in the poem “A
Man’s a Man for A’ That” which ends in the words
For a' that, an' a' that,
It's coming yet for a' that,
That man to man, the world o'er,
Shall brithers be for a' that
Let us look forward to the next 25
years.
Long live Crosne - Long live Maybole |
