Written by Sue Thornton, Todmorden Town Twinning Association, Secretary for Roncq
In March 2022,the Todmorden Town Twinning Association received an invitation to travel to Roncq in France to celebrate 40 years of twinning with Todmorden. The twinning visits had been shelved while Covid was rife and travel was restricted but a group of six set off on the train from Halifax on 29th of April and took the Eurotunnel to Lille where our hosts collected us.
The programme was very varied.
An official reception was held for the members of Todmorden Town Twinning Association and the Roncq Twinners and many original members of the society from Roncq were there. Our only original member from 1982, John Heaton, travelled north from Charroux, where he now lives.
The Mayor of Roncq Rodrigue Desmet welcomed us all and Cllr Andy Hollis, our council representative read a speech in fluent french which was translated into english and spoken by Phill Morton in his own inevitable humorous manner for the english people to understand. Gifts were exchanged, a painting of Todmorden landscape for the Mayor and an abstract picture of local buildings from Todmorden for the Twinning association to put on display,
A champagne reception was offered with various culinary delights for us all to enjoy together with a good old “chinwag” for old friends to catch up.
On Sunday, a fun run was organized by th Roncq committee which consisted of repetitive laps around a local area to achieve 638 klms which is the distance between Todmorden and Roncq.
It was divided into sections depending on ability of the runners/walkers of 10kms, 7.5kms, 5kms and 2.5 kms each setting off at staggered times. It was a perfect day, not too hot but fine and at half time over 1,000kms had been achieved.
Local bands provided music; there were refreshments through the day and fish and chips were offered to everyone.
The atmosphere was superb and lots of new friendships were forged.
Anna-Lise Leroy the new President of Roncq Twinning Association is trying to enthuse lots of different groups ensuring the continuity of the future of the association with music, culture, sports and other possibilities.
We returned to Todmorden on Monday 2nd May tired but exhilarated and looking forward to a long and happy future for our Twinning Societies.
If you are interested in joining our association or want to know anything more about it, you can contact either Sue Thornton (Secretary for Roncq) or Phil Morton (Secretary for Bramsche, Germany). Please contact the Town Council office who can provide phone or email contacts for Sue and Phil.