40 years since signing of the twinning charter between towns Newark and Emmendingen, Germany, celebrated with events in Newark, including a tour of the internationally renowned School of Violin Making.
The 40-year anniversary of the signing of the charter between Newark and its twin town of Emmendingen in Germany was celebrated in June.
Several events took place in Newark as well as the tour of the unique Violin School, including a dinner at Newark Town Hall where a sculpture of a handshake, commissioned to represent 40 years of twinning friendship and handmade by Newark College students, was presented to Oberburgermeister Stefan Schlatterer.
Newark College made the sculpture from a brief provided by the clerk to Newark Town Council, Matthew Gleadell, which depicted a handshake of the 40-year partnership. The hands were sculpted by Newark College art students and mounted on American ash wood by joinery students.
Distinguished guests attended the dinner where the chairman of Newark Twinning Association, Rita Crowe made a speech.
Rita Crowe said: “On this 40th anniversary of the signing of the Charter with Emmendingen, I am delighted to be able to welcome friends from Emmendingen and Sandomierz.
“A special welcome to Mayor Marcin [Mayor of Sandomierz] who is in Newark for the first time, and we hope he will visit us many more times.
“So much has happened since we were last able to be together to celebrate our friendships here in Newark five years ago, particularly covid and the resulting impact on us all, which makes this weekend’s celebration even more special.
“In 1983 the late Hans Peter Schlatter, Oberburgermeister, wrote in his twinning speech about the history and lessons learned and said ‘Our twinning is to forge close links between individual people, families, and societies, and thus strengthen the feeling of mutual understanding’.
“Our first chairman the late Roland Cope, past mayor, wrote in 2008 that following the search for a twin town in Germany, he and MIke Wilson [the town clerk] recommended Emmendingen.
“He said ‘The success of twinning should not be measured by the number of years the partnership has existed, but by the number of people from each town who have visited each other whether privately or in an organised group and by the lifelong friendships that have been forged’.
“It’s so fitting that we have the sons of the Fathers of Newark/Emmendingen twinning here with us tonight in Oberburgermeister Stefan and past Mayor Max Cope.”
