Celebrating 30 years of friendship between Limavady and Vigneux-sur-Seine

September will mark a special milestone for Limavady, as the town celebrates 30 years of twinning with its French counterpart, Vigneux-sur-Seine.

To mark the anniversary, the Limavady Twinning Association is inviting the local community to join in a series of celebrations, including an Anniversary Dinner Dance attended by representatives of Vigneux-sur-Seine later this month.

The 30th anniversary of the signing of the official twinning agreement on September 7, 1996, is a special reflection upon the beginning of a unique connection between the two towns.

Over the past three decades, the relationship has continued to grow and strengthen, creating lasting friendships, opportunities for cultural and educational exchange, and many memorable occasions for people in both communities.

Jim Quigg, Chairperson of the Limavady Twinning Association, outlined plans to celebrate this significant milestone in the long-standing relationship between Limavady and Vigneux-sur-Seine:

“The group will arrive on Thursday 24th September, there is 14 people coming over from Vigneux-sur-Seine for the anniversary celebrations, including the Deputy Mayor, the President of Twinning, members of twinning and representatives of sports, including rugby and football personnel.

“They will meet the Mayor on Thursday evening at the Yellowbird for a light supper and entertainment.

“On Friday, they leave to go to Stormont for a workshop and tour, explaining the role of our government, lunch with local MLAs and visits to the Titanic quarter around the shipyards, a tour of the murals and Belfast Castle.

“Saturday morning, the group will meet the Mayor at the Roe Valley Arts and Cultural Centre, where the delegation will be taken to the lower end of Main Street where a tree will be planted in honour of 30 years of Twinning.

“They will then view window dressing displays throughout the town and will return to the Roe Valley Arts and Cultural Centre, where there will be a display of photographs from twinning over the 30 years, including the firemen and dancers’ visits.

“There will then be a drinks reception for the distinguished guests of Vigneux prior to the Gala Dinner at The Drummond on Saturday September 26.

“The Mayor will be in attendance for the dinner, as will two people from Westport, our other twin town, Cllr. John O’Malley and previous TD Michael Ring.

“The entertainment for the Saturday night will start with ‘Danny Boy’, played by a flutist, Audrey O’Neill, accompanying singer Janice Mullan with an Irish dancer dancing.

“Irish dancers from Allen School of Dancing will then perform, the Limavady Highland Dancers will then come in, piped in by a World Champion piper and the two groups will come together for one dance followed by a performance by the Roeside Stompers.

“A music group called Mojo Jojo will sing for the last two hours.

“The tickets for the dinner at £35 per person, can be bought from any member of the Twinning group or through Julie Brolly at Café Steinbeck or Margaret Ann Sexton at Yellowbird Café or contact me on 07738088253.

“I would encourage people to come along and enjoy the evening!”

Jim is keen to see more involvement throughout Limavady with the twinning relationship and would encourage more people to come forward to find out more; he outlined the benefits to Limavady from Twinning:

“I would say the benefits are friendship, the experience of another culture, another way of life and passing experience from one workplace to another.

“We took the firefighters to our headquarters at a time that it was being revamped and they went back with the knowledge of our design for their new station.

“Two of them came over and worked here for a period of time, the exchange of jobs and knowledge, we have learnt from that.

“We have a lifelong partnership, and keep in contact with each other.”

Jim shared what twinning had meant to him over the three decades:

“I have been involved with twinning from day one, over thirty years.

“Dougie Bartlett, the first chair of the Twinning Association, came up to the fire station and asked for someone to represent the Fire Service within a talk and brief discussion on twinning.

“I then took a party of six Firefighters out to Vigneux-sur-Seine in November of 1996 and we were the initial first group to go out to Vigneux from Limavady.

“The firefighters have been going out to Vigneux-sur-Seine every other year since then.

“The McGuinness School of Dancing went out for a number of years and then the Allen School of Dancers have been going out for the annual music festival in June for years too.

“Peter Jack has gone out to compete in the Iron Man competition, the Lions club and veteran footballers have gone out amongst others.

“I have been involved as a committee member, then as a deputy chair and have been chair of the Twinning Association for ten years.

“I have been honoured to be involved on many occasions; I’ve been involved with the opening of a new training school in Vigneux and have taken the guard of honour on occasions when new recruits have been passed out.

“This has been a lifetime experience for me and it gives me great pleasure to have been part of that!”