Most places have got one. Some even have several. But most of us know nothing about them.
Locate the sign at the entrance of your town, and you’ll probably spot a phrase that sounds something like this: “Twinned with — *insert a distant town that you cannot pronounce and cannot remember*”.
Neuwied, Germany is the town that I cannot pronounce and I cannot remember, yet 2017 marks the 30th anniversary of ‘town twinning’ for Bromley and Neuwied. In June this year, Bromley residents pledged to maintain good relations with the town’s Rhineland twin, after the result of the EU referendum. But who are these residents? And with so many of us, knowing so little about the interesting sounding places, that the signposts around the UK advertise, is there really any point to a twin town?
Twin towns supposedly encourage tourism, help us experience new cultures and bring us closer to places all around the world. However some claim that twinning is expensive and outdated. Which is true for Bromley and Neuwied?
With a quick trip to google, I discovered a community of keen ‘town twinners’. Each year the Mayor of Bromley is invited to visit his or her counterpart, the Oberbürgermeister of Neuwied, whilst Bromley and Neuwied’s Town Twinning Association visit each other over a long weekend, on alternating years. Both sides maintain they have learnt a lot from each other over the years, specifically the running of local community services.
However, the residents that partake in these trips are generally retired and the ‘twinning’ community appears to be a senior one. Older generations claim we are losing our sense of community, so what is the future for an association thriving purely on fallen and forgotten values?
You and your twin share something. A history, a family, some DNA. But what is it that Bromley and Neuwied actually share?
Will Bromley and Neuwied’s relationship survive another 30 years? Or is Neuwied simply becoming another long, lost twin?
Rosanna Elliott, Bromley High School
