Ten town twinners
from Maybole travelled to Germany two weeks ago to seal the official links
with Schotten and to their surprise they were
met with a sea of tartan. The German town was celebrating the 1225th
anniversary of its creation by Scottish emigrants and the mayor, Hans Otto
Zimmermann, and his council had organised a weekend of Scottish
entertainment. There were 14 pipe bands, 12 German and 2 from Holland,
Scottish country dancers and even a mini Highland Games. The Maybole
visitors were astounded at how popular the Scottish culture is in Germany
with hundreds of German people in tartan. Everyone had a great time and
thoroughly enjoyed the hospitality of their hosts and their friends. The
twinning ceremony was held on Saturday, October 4 and William Grant,
chairman of Maybole Town Twinning ceremony signed the official documents
with Burgermeister Zimmermann. The first stage of the link with Schotten
was the signing in Maybole Town Hall in 2000 and this return trip
completed the town's third town twinning with European towns. In 1982, the
capital of Carrick linked with the French town of Crosne, near Paris and
in 1998 with the Belgian community of Beloeil. Beloeil and Schotten have
been linked with Crosne for 40 years and they celebrated this milestone at
the same ceremony. ( Ayrshire Post - October 2003) ( Click on the images
below to view them full size.) Maybole -
Schotten twinning page. |