When you enter many towns and cities in Great Britain today you are greeted by a sign: “Welcome to …., twinned with …..”. These signs represent a history of international co-operation and friendship, some at an official level, many as informal links between groups of people of all ages and backgrounds. Twinning became popular in Great Britain after the Second World War, with the aim that building links and exchanges between individual towns and cities would bring reconciliation and prosperity after years of conflict.

Highworth is twinned with Pontorson in France and Wassenberg in Germany, with the aim of fostering friendship and understanding between the people of Highworth and our twin towns. To that end we organise an annual visit to one of these towns and receive guests from the town not visited in the year e.g. in 2025 we visited Pontorson in May and will be receiving visitors from Wassenberg in October. In 2026 we expect to visit Wassenberg in May and receive visitors from Pontorson later in the year.

Everyone in Highworth is welcome to join in our activities, whether it’s part of our group visits to our twin towns, hosting a visitor from Pontorson or Wassenberg, or joining in with our fund-raising activities Our recent fund raisers have included our summer Safari Lunch or a quiz night in the winter months. Keep an eye on our Facebook page and look out for posters in town for upcoming visits and activities.

For further information please visit our Facebook Page or contact Richard Pearce at rjjnpearcehta@gmail.com