Bridgwater has 5 twin
towns.La Ciotat (France) Homberg (Germany) Uherske
Hradiste (Czech Republic) Marsa (Malta) and Priverno (Italy). We are working on a 6th -Camacha on the Portuguese island of Madeira. In 2014 Bridgwater Town Council set up a ‘Twinning
Forum’ for the town where all the existing partners could meet and work
together.
The Town Council grant aids each twinning group with £300 annually with each twinning run through it’s own twinning committee and funds an annual 'Conference'. .
La Ciotat (France) 1957 The La Ciotat twinning is
Bridgwater’s oldest twinning dating back to the Borough days of the 1950’s.
Over the years many youth exchanges formed the backbone of the link but in
recent years support has dropped and activists have ‘aged’ leaving a vacuum .
In 2013 the remaining members of the la Ciotat link society asked Bridgwater International to
take over the running of the link which it did for 4 years rebuilding a link programme including football, choir visits and student links. In 2017 the Bridgwater-La Ciotat Link Society re-established itself in its own right and the
new Contact is Hayley Giles (hayleylouise36@hotmail.co.uk) . Website is www.bridgwaterinternational.co.uk/la-ciotat
Homberg (Germany) 1992 The Homberg twinning was conceived as part of the Sedgemoor -Schwalm Eder District twinning (SEK) (1979) along with Fritzlar (Burnham) and Felsberg (Cheddar).The Homberg link is a self sufficient and self contained group within the SEK network . Secretary is Ros Holman. thethreeholmans@hotmail.com .
Uherske Hradiste (Czech Republic) 1992 Bridgwater was the first British
town to twin with a Czech town after the Velvet Revolution of 1989 and the
Bridgwater Czech Slovak Friendship Society is recognised as the most active
Anglo-Czech twinning link in both countries. The twinning was signed on June 18th
1992 Throughout the 1990’s the link received
considerable EU funding as it dealt with an accession state and consequently
when Czechoslovakia divided, with 2 accession states thus attracting 3 way
partnership funding. This funding resulted in up to 500 people a year
travelling between the countries for over a decade.
. The Bridgwater Czech-Slovak Friendship Society is run
by a committee which forms part of the Bridgwater International group, which also includes Czech, Italian and Portuguese links along with non formal ones in France, Poland, Hungary, Lithaunia, Slovenia, Croatia and Montenegro Bridgwater International operates
through a network of key agents in a series of partnership towns around Europe
and organises some 30+ projects a year.The internationalist programme includes
a considerable input from various departments of Bridgwater College, along with
community groups , choirs, sports teams etc around the county, and is monitored
by regular meetings of the Bridgwater Czech/Slovak Friendship society
committee. Contact is Brian Smedley bridgwaterinternational@gmail.com Bridgwater International maintains a web site which incorporates the Czech/Slovak programme within a broader Internationalist perspective. www.bridgwaterinternational.co.uk
Marsa (Malta) 2006 The
Malta twinning was set up in 2004 by Steve Gill whose wife is Maltese
and who put an advert in the Mercury suggesting a Maltese link be
formed. The twinning agreement was signed in April 2006 by Town Mayor
Bill Monteith and the first official visit to Malta was in October 2006
by the, then Town Mayor Pat Parker. This was preceded by earlier
semi-official visits by a civic party to Bridgwater by the Marsa Council
in 2004 and a reciprocal visit by twinning members to Malta in 2005. Since
then there have been several formal and informal visits by Bridgwater
and Marsa delegates to their respective twinned towns. The last trip to
Malta was fronted by Town Mayor Alex Glassford in 2016 when he and his
accompanying party celebrated the 10th anniversary of the association
with the Marsa council members, organisation representatives and
friends. A similar event was held in Bridgwater in May 2016 when Marsa
Councillor Dominic Spencer and his family visited this town to
commemorate this occasion and participated in the town's Twinning
Conference programme. They have a web site: http://www.bridgwater-marsa.webeden.co.uk/ The
twinning is run by the BRIDGWATER/MARSA TWINNING ASSOCIATION. Officers
of the Association as follows: President-the current Mayor of Bridgwater
(presently Graham Granter), Honorary Vice Presidents-Dr Joseph Muscat
Prime Minister of Malta and Mr Ian Liddell-Grainger MP. Chair-Mike
Grabner, Secretary-Pat Morgan, Treasurer-Barbara Taylor, Membership
Secretary-Tricia Brown.Meetings
are normally held bi-monthly at the Mayor's Parlour. Their projects are
very traditional twinning exchanges between key members and include a
civic element. They also have a strong Scout content and are constantly
striving to establish links with other local organisations to further
the twinning ethos. They hold occasional social events and post
extensive reports of their activities on their web site along with
detailed meeting minutes and photos. Their on-going aim and purpose is
to maintain the close relationship with their Maltese friends and
partners and work with other town twinning groups. Contact is Pat Morgan: patjanemorgan@aol.com
Priverno (Italy) 2015 On February 26th 2015 Bridgwater signed up it's 5th twinning partner. The town of Priverno is in the province of Latina and the Region of Lazio just south of Rome. Links have been going on for some 4 years already as the twinning was based on the town also being the twin town of Uherske Hradiste. Priverno is a small hilltop top in the foothills of the Apenines and between it and the coast stretches the former Pontine Marshes, flat, reclaimed from the sea and drained similarly to Sedgemoor. A 20 minute drive from Priverno is the seaside town of Sabaudia and the regional capital of Latina. Rome is a mere 6€ train journey away. Links so far with Priverno have included a football tour, 3 choir visits, 3 visits from Bridgwater college and we now have a growing group of twinners in each town who keep in regualr contact. We have regular exchanges with the Teodosio Rossi school in Priverno . There is also an active Bridgwater-Priverno twinning group which holds Italian lunches at the Purplespoon cafe.(at the YMCA) in Bridgwater and which has its own Facebook Page. The original twinning was signed by 'acting' Mayor Bill Monteith in Priverno with Priverno's then mayor Angelo Delogu but was confirmed in March 2019 by Bridgwater mayor Diogo Rodrigues and new Priverno mayor Anna Maria Bilancia in Bridgwater Town Hall. Contact for the Priverno link is Cllr Hilary Bruce hbruce@hbtranslations.it Camacha (Portugal) 2019 Due to the hard work of former mayor Diogo Rodrigues working with the Somerset Portuguese Society a twinning was agreed with the town of Camacha on the island of Madiera, which is the home town of Diogo himself. The first exploratory trip was in February 2019 and a full report is available here During 2019 a formal twinning will be undertaken accompanied by a choir trip in October. along with a civic visit. To get involved in the Madeiran twinning contact Diogo on diogobridgwater@outlook.com. The link is presently run by the Bridgwater-Camacha Twinning Association. OTHER INTERNATIONAL LINKS Whilst the Town does have numerous links around the
world ,for instance there are 13 ‘Bridgewaters’
in the USA which all have some historical connection to Somerset, there are
also recent business links with China pursued through the Chamber of Commerce.
Beyond this the schools and colleges have numerous specialist links of their own , as do organisations
such as Rotary, The Arts Centre and Trades Unions amongst others. Bridgwater also has an official/unofficial/impractical link with the city of Seattle,USA based on a shared interest in punk superstar Joe Strummer. This is based on the annual 'Clash Day run by KEXP Radio, Seattle which links up with Bridgwater every February.. https://www.kexp.org/internationalclashday/ These links were endorsed and are supported where possible but it should recognised that they would be impossible to finance by the Town Council . BRIDGWATER TOWN TWINNING FORUM Bridgwater Town twinning Forum was set up in 2014 by a motion of council and brings together councillors with the twinners and new memebrs. The original motion read as follows "Considering the wealth of twinning and international link activities in the town these should be supported, publicised and enhanced. a Town Twinning Forum should be established comprising delegates from each of the existing and proposed twinnings to share experience and publicise activities. This should meet 3 times a year with the council providing meeting space. . An Annual Open Day event where the public could hear presentations on past activities and future plans. This should be organised by the Town Twinning Forum. That the Bridgwater Czech-Slovak Friendship Society, the Bridgwater Homberg Link society and the Bridgwater Marsa Twinning Association be supported with annual grant aid and by the ongoing civic support of the Mayor. That the council recognises the La Ciotat Society’s wish that it’s programme be hitherto organised by Bridgwater International and that the annual grant be allocated to that organisation for specific projects relating to the French town" BRIDGWATER TOWN TWINNING CONFERENCES Full reports are available here; We have also set up a Facebook
group;- Bridgwater Town Twinning Forum |