Published on 2nd July 2014

Twinning post in Imperial Gardens which points to all of Cheltenham's twin towns

The centenary of the start of the First World War will be commemorated with a visit by representatives from Cheltenham's twin towns of Annecy and Göttingen from 4 - 7 July.

The Deputy Mayors of Annecy and Göttingen will lead their groups.
 
One of the main highlights of the visit will be attending the World War One Centenary concert on Sunday 6 July at the Town Hall as part of the Cheltenham Music Festival.

Another highlight will be the launch of an audio visual video of WW1 monuments in Cheltenham and its twin towns, which will be shown at The Wilson on Saturday evening and subsequently launched on Cheltenham Borough Council’s and Cheltenham Twinning Association's websites. This has been gratefully put together by Cheltenham Camera Club in liaison with our twin towns.

At the launch on Saturday evening, there will also be a presentation by the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps who are based at Imjin barracks. They will be depicting their work in the international military arena and how far we have come since WW1.

The group will also visit the WW1 centenary exhibition at the Maxima Forum in Lansdown Road and representatives will have discussions on how schools from their twin towns can be involved in the Gloucestershire Remembers World War One Project being organised by the Everyman Theatre.

Visitors will also get a good taste of what Cheltenham has to offer with a visit to the Montpellier Fiesta.

Annette Wight, twinning officer, says: ''We have such strong links these days with both Annecy and Göttingen that it is wonderful to be able to have a weekend like this together to reflect on the First World War and see how far we have come in creating firm friendships throughout Europe through the means of town twinning.''

Councillor Garth Barnes, chair of the twinning association, added: “We’re delighted to have guests from our twin towns joining us to commemorate the centenary of the start of the First World War. The trip is sure to help forge even stronger friendships with our twin towns and we’re pleased to be able to mark this occasion with them.”

For further details about the visit, please contact Annette Wight on 01242 264311 or by email.

 

For press enquiries contact: Kelly Carter, communications officer, telephone 01242 264154, email [email protected]

Notes to Editors:

A programme is available on request.

Cheltenham has five twin towns, Annecy in France, Göttingen in Germany, Sochi in Russia, Weihai in China and Cheltenham in Pennsylvania, USA, and 2 friendship towns Kisumu Kenya and Stampersgat Holland.

- Cheltenham has been twinned with Göttingen in Lower Saxony since 1951.
- Cheltenham has been twinned with Annecy since 1956.