Tag Archives: Neukirchen-Vluyn

Three countries come together to celebrate Twinning of towns

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Visitors from Neukirchen-Vluyn in Germany and Mouvaux in France will be visiting Buckingham this weekend to celebrate the friendship between the three towns. The Mayors of Buckingham and Neukirchen-Vluyn will sign the English version of the formal twinning between the two towns. The weekend also marks twenty years of Buckingham’s twinning with Mouvaux.

The visiting groups will include the Mayor of each town, and people involved with the twinning association in each area. Guests will be staying with host families in Buckingham and will spend time getting to know the town during the weekend visit.

To celebrate Buckingham Town Council is hosting Twinning in the Market, a light-hearted musical celebration of France, Germany and the UK. Three acts will perform: a mime artist, a German oompah band ‘Edelweiss All Stars’ and local morris dancers the Brackley Morris Men. Each act will be performing in front of the Old Gaol in Buckingham from 10 am until 2 pm on Saturday 19th March.

Part-funding for Twinning in the Market entertainment is being provided by the Government’s ‘Welcome Back Fund’ from Buckinghamshire Council.

Buckingham also hosts popular street and flea market each Saturday, and with French, German and Union Jack flags already out decorating the town centre and sunny weather forecast it should be a fantastic opportunity to get together and enjoy all that Buckingham and its twin towns have to offer.

Mayor of Buckingham, Cllr. Margaret Gateley, who will be welcoming the visitors said “It is a great honour and pleasure to welcome the Mayors of Mouvaux and Neukirchen-Vluyn alongside other guests to Buckingham this weekend for our long-awaited celebration of our three-way partnership. It is particularly important to further such friendships between nations in the light of what is going on elsewhere in our world.”

New signs celebrate Buckingham’s friendship with France and German towns

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Mayor of Buckingham, Cllr. Margaret Gateley and Stephanie Scrase, Chair of Buckingham Twinning Association met recently to inspect the new ‘finger post’ sign that directs Buckingham visitors 405 miles away to Neukirchen-Vluyn, in Germany. Neukirchen-Vluyn joins Mouvaux, 252 miles away in France, as a twin town of Buckingham with officials and community groups working together in all three countries to make positive connections between the three towns.

As well as the new fingerpost signage, the Welcome to Buckingham signs have also been updated to include Neukirchen-Vluyn, and a new display added to the Council Chamber window with items donated from the Twinning Association and the Town Council archives. These include guide books, visit accounts, photographs, a boules set and a french ‘cheese’ a hollow wooden block used to bang the gavel against during Council meetings.

Stephanie Scrase, Chair of Buckingham Twinning Association said that: “These new signs are a testimony of an incredible and friendly town who has worked hard to promote friendship to its neighbouring countries.

It gives me a warm feeling every time I see the signs linking my home town of Mouvaux and Neukirchen–Vluyn with Buckingham. These three towns are firmly linked on many levels, so many friendships and exchanges have developed over the past 20 years thanks to twinning, long may it last.

The association is run for the benefit of all, to form new friendships or to know more about twinning, please come and join us.”

The new signs were erected ahead of a weekend of celebration including Twinning in the Market on Saturday 19th March - a celebration of our twin towns through music and dance surrounded by Buckingham's fantastic local market traders.

Twinning with Neukirchen-Vluyn

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Buckingham Twinning Association and Buckingham Town Council are pleased to announce that the German town of Neukirchen-Vluyn have agreed to a formal twinning arrangement with Buckingham.  It was over 7 years ago when an informal friendship agreement was made between the Mayors of Buckingham and Neukirchen-Vluyn, when signed an agreement in the Council Chamber in Buckingham.  Harald Lenssen was Burgermeister of Neukirchen-Vluyn and Ruth Newell was then Mayor of Buckingham.  Members of the Twinning Associations of the two towns have been meeting up over many years, as both towns are already twinned with Mouvaux in France.  In recent years there have been more joint activities with Neukirchen-Vluyn and after checking with both twinning associations that they would like to move to a formal twinning, Ruth Newell proposed and Howard Mordue seconded the motion to progress to a formal twinning agreement, which was agreed by the Town Council.  This then needed to be agreed at 2 different meetings at Neukirchen-Vluyn, so Buckingham are delighted that it has been agreed.

The next step will be that the formal agreements will be signed by the two Mayors at ceremonies both in Buckingham and Neukirchen-Vluyn during 2020.  Buckingham Mayor Councillor Mark Cole JP has recently written to Burgermeister Harald to say how pleased he was to hear that it had been agreed and that he will be honoured to come to Neukirchen-Vluyn to sign the agreement in February 2020 and that the twinning is a positive move to ensure that our relationships with our European friends continue far into the future.

In the meantime, activities continue between the two towns, and Sue Watkins, who has been an active participant and host to our visitors from Germany, is proud to be Chair of the Twinning Association at this important time.

The Association organises reciprocal small group visits and often have a stall selling English products at one of the  markets in Neukirchen-Vluyn. Here in Buckingham they  have coffee,  croissants and German cake in February each year which is always  a very popular event. Another event not to be missed is the annual Buckingham Boules  Tournament in July.

Do please join the Twinning Association if you would like to be an active participant, and attend the many events on offer.

The Association has a website and Facebook page, and the Membership Secretary Sue Watkins can provide more details via membership@buckinghamtwinning.org.uk.