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26 Mar 2026
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26 Mar 2026
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Former First Derry Presbyterian minister Rev David Latimer behind twinning proposal.
Derry City and Strabane District Council has received a twinning proposal from Derry in Pennsylvania in the United States.
A report on the twinning proposal was brought before Council’s Culture and Business committee’s April meeting on Tuesday.
A further paper will be brought to the committee with details on the potential benefits, costs and resource implications of the proposal.
The report said: “It was the Scots-Irish immigrants who first travelled from County Derry to settle in central Pennsylvania. A group established a church and town there and named it Derry.
“The connections between the two Derry communities were lost and then rekindled when John Hume visited Hershey for a conference about thirty years ago and came across the town. Hershey is formally the municipality of Derry. A couple of years later when the church in Derry, Pennsylvania, was celebrating its 275th anniversary a group of 40 travelled to Derry attending the First Derry Presbyterian during their visit.
“The two Derry communities have developed connections and shared projects via the churches. It is hoped that the shared history, friendships and initiatives to date can be extended to culture, tourism, healthcare, education and commerce.
“Derry Township is a township in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. The population is 24,796 at the 2020 census. Hershey, the site of the well-known Hershey’s chocolate factory and its affiliated amusement park is located within the township. The town is in close proximity to Harrisburg which is the capital of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat for Dauphin County,” said the report.
Informal conversations on the twinning began in September 2024 in Hershey and the Mayor hosted an online meeting in January 2025, bringing representatives from both places together to explore the possibilities of twinning Derry, Ireland and Derry, Pennsylvania.
The Mayor and Chief Executive of Derry City and Strabane District Council subsequently received a request on March 24 , 2025, from Rev Dr Stephen McKinney-Whittaker and a twinning proposal from Rev David Latimer.
Councillors were told, officers are considering the request, potential benefits and resource implications.
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