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.