On Saturday 11 August, 57 members of the Göttingen branch of the German Olympic Association visited Cheltenham for the day, taking time out from a week attending various Olympic events in London. The group had a reception with the Mayor and a tour of the town, before having free time to shop and visit our restaurants.
The group, which included a past Olympian who won a gold for canoeing in the 1960 Games in Rome, spoke very highly of the organisation and friendliness of the London Olympics. Germany picked up 11 gold medals in London, putting them in sixth place behind the 29 golds won by Team GB, but the group were far from bitter saying it was the best Olympics they had seen. Many of the group had been to the Beijing Olympics, with some also having travelled to Athens, Sydney and Atlanta.
Annecy’s Fete du Lac
The annual Fete du Lac took place on Saturday 4 August and was attended by the Mayor and Mayoress Cllrs Colin and Rowena Hay, Cllr Garth Barnes Chairman of the twinning association and Brian and Alexis Cassin Honorary Aldermen and members of the association. Together with 
delegations from Annecy’s other twin towns, they were amazed by the fantastic display of fireworks and lighting effects to music which take place over the lake of Annecy. They also had the opportunity to discuss various ideas for further links and exchanges with members of the Cheltenham /Annecy twinning committee.
Enriching experience
As part of our work placement exchange scheme with Annecy council, two students from Cleeve School who have just completed their A level French, were selected to take part in this scheme and spent the month of July on work placements in Annecy. Ceri worked in the Youth Information Office and Alex worked with the parks and gardens team.
Meanwhile, Valentin and Lucille from Annecy spent four weeks in Cheltenham. Valentin spending his time with the parks and gardens team and community rangers, whilst Lucille was with the parking and travel plus team.
All the students found it a very valuable and enriching experience and a fantastic opportunity to improve their language skills and gain confidence in a foreign work place.
Young twinners in town
Cheltenham has welcomed nearly 60 young people from our twin towns of Annecy and Weihai in July as they attend the international summer school at Gloucestershire College. The 44 students from France and the 15 from China all aged between 14 and 16 years, study english in the mornings and undertake a variety of sporting, cultural and sightseeing activities in the afternoons. Both groups have been into the Council chamber to meet the Mayor and have a reception with members of the Twinning Association. The youngsters stay with local host families and are truly immersed into english life and culture.
Twinners flocked to see Olympic Torch celebrations
Over 75 twinning visitors from our five twin towns came to Cheltenham to join in celebrating the Olympic torch coming to Cheltenham. The delegation included 20 officials from across our 5 twin towns and 13 members of the Lubo dance ensemble from Sochi, Russia.
Other visitors here for the torch relay on 23 May included 32 guests from our German twin town on a tourist trip, nine students from the Heinrich Boll School in Göttingen visiting Bettridge school, as well as two leaders from the Göttingen youth sport exchange.
Various events were organised during the four day visit from Monday 21 to Thursday 24 May, including a guided tour of the town, a reception with the Mayor, a coach tour around the Cotswolds and a trip on the steam train. A workshop was also arranged for the morning of Thursday 24 May to give delegates the opportunity to promote themselves and their business and tourism links to local businesses. However, the highlight of the trip was to see the torch passing through Cheltenham and arrive at the racecourse carried by the Queen’s granddaughter, Zara Phillips. The Lubo dance ensemble presented a special dance performance as part of the celebrations at the racecourse as well.
It was an unique occasion having representatives from all of our twin towns here at the same time and demonstrates just how strong our international links are and it was wonderful to be able to share this once-in-a-life-time event with them.
See our picture gallery for photos of the event.
Successful Weihai trip
Fourteen local residents and business leaders had a very successful trip to Weihai, Cheltenham’s Chinese twin town at the beginning of April. Their aim was to promote Cheltenham from a business and educational point of view. It is hoped the self funded trip will have created excellent business, educational and tourism relationships.
The trip included visits to:
- The Weihai campus of the Harbin Institute of Technology
- Wego Group – a large manufacturer and direct supplier of medical equipment
- Weihai Jiguan Kindergarten and Huancui International Middle School
- The Sunshine Centre, training adults with learning difficulties to achieve employment and return to their families
- Liugong Island, with a trip to see the pandas.
The Mayor of Cheltenham said that the visit gave a great insight into the wonderful cultural differences between Cheltenham and Weihai which would help develop the twinning link and the Chief Executive said that despite the vast difference in population of the two towns, the visit enabled the group to build good relations in person and to set the agenda for working together in the future. Representatives from Gloucestershire College and Cheltenham Ladies College also took part in the visit and made valuable links.
Look in the Weihai photo gallery for pictures of the visit.
Anyone interested in establishing links with Weihai should contact twinning@cheltenham.gov.uk
Göttingen apprentices say farewell
Laura and Martina from Göttingen said farewell to the Mayor of Cheltenham at the end of April after a successful 6 week work placement at the Borough Council. The 
two girls are undertaking a 3 year apprenticeship with Göttingen City Council and were able to spend time with the urban design and integrated transport teams under a new EU funded project between the two twin towns. The girls gained a great deal of knowledge and experience at the council and spoke fluently by the end of their stay. They are the first of several apprentices that Cheltenham Borough Council will be welcoming and other apprentices have been placed with local companies.
Bridge between our twin towns
Bridge players from our twin towns of Annecy and Göttingen were invited by Cheltenham Bridge Club for an international tournament over the Jubilee weekend. The 8 visitors from Annecy and 12 from Gö
ttingen arrived on 31 May and were welcomed by the Mayor of Cheltenham on 1 June in the council offices before they headed off for a bridge competition in the afternoon. A busy weekend of events around the Cotswolds was arranged for the visitors and their hosts, culminating in a Jubilee style dinner. Further pictures can be seen on Cheltenham Bridge Club’s website.
Visit to Weihai – April 2012
A trip to Weihai, Cheltenham’s Chinese twin town, is being organised by the Weihai Link group from 2-12 April this year. The visit will include 3 full days in Weihai, where a programme will be organised by our colleagues, who will show the sights and culture of the city. The itinerary also includes time in Xian and Beijing. The cost is £1,840 per person and anyone interested should complete the booking form. This is a fabulous opportunity to take part in an unique visit to China and experience life in Weihai. The trip is open to all!
Funds for twinning!
Cheltenham Twinning Association has a pot of funding worth £9,000 to support young people taking part in twinning activities with our twin and friendship towns and we are now inviting applications to this fund. We would like to inspire groups of young people from school year 6, up to 25 years of age, to take part in twinning activities that will make a positive difference to them and the communities they live in. Grants are available from £500 up to £1,500.
The guidelines and criteria for applying for this funding are set out here together with the expression of interest application form in pdf and word formats. The closing date is Friday 13 January 2012.
Cheltenham International Partnerships 