Wednesday, 4 June 2025
Celebrating 45 years of town twinning!
The 46 visitors from St Pol were joined by a delegation of 4 visitors from our other twin town Warstein. Hosts had been arranged for everyone, and they welcomed our visitors to their homes.
"Welcome to Hebden Bridge, one of the most beautiful towns in the North of England" said Keith Butterick, Mayor of Hebden Royd at the Civic Welcome in the Picture House. Our guests, who love the Picture House, relaxed as they listened to the speeches, then watched with keen interest Villages of Calderdale by Air, a film by Peter Thornton.
On Saturday morning we visited the Heptonstall Museum, an atmospheric and authentic Grade II Listed building, dating back to 1600. We then enjoyed a walk around St Thomas' and the village centre.
Photo: Visiting the High Hirst Wood Meadow Project.
The High Hirst Wood Meadow project was our next place of interest where we had a fascinating tour led by Neil Diment. During the tour he demonstrated mowing with a hand scythe – and was surprised to discover that Sebastien Hubo from St Pol was also familiar with the technique!
Photo: The Ceilidh on Friday evening
An ingenious bilingual quiz hosted by GenErika was the main event of Saturday evening. The winning team contained members from all three towns, which seemed very appropriate.
On the Sunday morning, we bade our guests a reluctant farewell and they boarded their coach for St Pol.
As Maire Vasseur had said "Lets stay strong, let's not give up. We have been building bonds throughout these years of exchanges ……Together, we can build strong, lasting relationships and strengthen the social bonds between our countries".