WELLINGTON Town Council is considering whether it should get more involved in fostering better links with its twin towns.

The international twinning movement started soon after the end of the Second World War in 1945 with the passionate support of communities across Europe vowing that the continent should never again be torn apart by conflict.

Wellington officially joined the twinning movement in 1964 with the signing of a twinning charter with the French town of Lillebonne, a town of now around 9,500 people.

It then quickly twinned with Immenstadt in Germany with a population of around 14,500, before a third twinning charter was signed in 1998 with Torres Vedras in Portugal which has a much larger population of 90,000.

Originally, twinning was managed by Wellington Town Council, but for many years now it has been run by the Wellington Twinning Association made up of local people.

But town clerk Dave Farrow, speaking at the town council’s newly-formed community committee on May 20, asked whether the authority should take more involvement in twinning again rather than on official visits to the twinned towns or when groups from France, Germany or Portugal visit Wellington.

“We don’t really have a lot to do with twinning apart from when we get an invite to attend something,” said Mr Farrow.

The Mayor, Cllr Janet Lloyd, said that during her previous spell in the role she visited Torres Vedras before the Covid-19 pandemic struck in 2020.

“I met with their Mayor and he wanted to set up business links between TV and Wellington,” she said. “But then came Covid-19 and nothing happened.”

Cllr Andrew Govier said: “It’s a difficult one. Twinning was set up after the Second World War and it was a good way of letting people experience different cultures.”

But he said in recent times that he had heard criticism aimed at the council for spending taxpayers’ money on sending the Mayor on trips abroad.

“Unless we get the schools engaged I don’t think there is a lot more we can do,” added Cllr Govier. “The councils of our twinned towns are very different to us and they put a lot more money into twinning - we aren’t always able to compare apples to apples.”

But Cllr Mike McGuffie said: “I think we should actually be doing more for twinning.”

It was agreed that twinning would constitute part of the community committee’s work plan for 2024-25.

In 1989 The Council of Europe awarded a Diploma to Wellington in recognition of the contribution made to European co-operation and this was followed by the award of the coveted European Flag of Honour in 1990.

Wellington Twinning Association organise trips to the twin towns and, similarly, it hosts visits from its friends from Portugal, Germany and France.

The association is self-funded and open to everyone living in Wellington and surrounding district. The only requirement is that you must be prepared to host visitors if you wish to go on organised visits to Torres Vedras, Lillebonne and Immenstadt.