Town twinning, a new start?

Mayor Stephen Remington, together with Councillor Jon Holmes, will soon be representing Looe on a visit to our twinning town of Quiberon in Brittany.  A trip at their own expense, this is a wonderful opportunity to strengthen international connections and explore what can be achieved through closer collaboration.

We spoke with Stephen, who shared a little more about the trip and its goals. His message was clear: we want organisations who are interested in the twinning arrangement to get in touch. This might be to share memories, connections, or future ambitions – spread the word & pass the message on. You can read more about the trip and how to get involved below!

 

“Almost 50 years ago the towns of Looe and Quiberon in Brittany signed a twinning agreement and for many years successful exchanges took place between organisations and families in both towns. Sadly this success faded over time but now the Mayors of Looe and of Quiberon are to meet, with colleagues, to discuss the revival of the “entente cordiale“. If talks go well we would aim for a big relaunch by October 2026, the fiftieth anniversary of the 1976 signing.

 

Although a modern twinning may be different in many ways, the original intention may have even more relevance in today’s world namely “to promote contacts between our peoples and knowledge of each other’s way of life, to develop educational, cultural and sporting exchanges with special emphasis on our young people.”

To this end I, Stephen Remington, current Mayor of Looe, Cllr Jon Holmes and his wife will be visiting Quiberon from 13th to 15th October this year, at our own expense, to meet with officials and organisations of that town to discuss what can be achieved.

 

Are you or your organisation interested in exploring the possibility of a forward looking new twinning arrangement? Perhaps you were active with Quiberon before or involved in the Looe Twinning Association? Did you make school visits there or host young people from Quiberon in Looe? Do you still have friends there from those earlier days? Do you already know your matching organisations in Quiberon? Let’s hear your memories!

 

A high priority for Looe Town Council is better provision for younger people in the town. We hope that a fresh approach to twinning with Quiberon can make a big contribution to that. So the Council wants to help this project get going, collect names of people (of all ages) who would be in any way interested or who have any ideas, large or small, about how a ‘modern twinning’ could work. The Town Council isn’t planning to run the twinning operation for all time but we would like to help kick-start it. We want to help make connections and build contacts between people and organisations of Looe and Quiberon then let those relationships flourish as they may. A ‘Twinning Association’ will be needed here to take on a coordinating role in due course; please let us know if you’d like to be part of that. This will need to be an ‘all-town’ initiative if it is to fly.

So, whatever your level of interest please get in touch with me, with your own and any organisation name and contact details (mobile phone, postal address and email address if possible). We will seek out matching organisations in Quiberon during our coming visit and share contacts with both sides, making the connections for you to follow up. And of course, please tell us if you already have contacts in Quiberon, and who they are. I look forward to hearing from as many people and organisations as possible. Please spread the word and pass this message on!”