Twinned with Colmar

Christmas at Colmar, France. Taken by Vincent Denefeld the 27th of November 2005. This work of art is distributed under the Free Art license.

The CDPB theme for 1st September 2008 is "Sister Cities" which is the American term for what we generally call "Town Twinning". It is a concept whereby towns or cities in geographically and politically distinct areas are paired, with the goal of fostering human contact and cultural links.

In March 1962, the two councils of Hyde and Colmar decided to establish friendly relations under the auspices of the Council of European Municipalities.

The North-West Film Archive has a 16mm film of the CEREMONY OF TWINNING BETWEEN THE BOROUGH OF HYDE AND THE TOWN OF COLMAR, FRANCE produced by G. Wain in 1963. Lasting 4 mins 54 secs it includes brief exteriors of Hyde Town Hall, followed by interiors featuring participants from both towns, speeches and ceremony.

A number of George Wain's films have been featured here, but we have been unable to locate a copy of this one.

The Tameside Local Studies and Archives Centre has only a few items related to the twinning, but they include a typescript of the speech by the Mayor of Colmar on 3rd September 1965 in which he says

In the arms of Hyde, which are those of a dynamic and active town, proud of its miners, its textiles and metal workers, there is a word which sums up the programme of your municipality and the aims of your citizens. That word is "ONWARD" ... It is this "ONWARD" spirit that we hope will characterise our partnership and help to draw the citizens of our two towns closer together in brotherly friendship and fruitful collaboration.

Forty-two years on and the arrangement appears to have been virtually forgotten.

More information about the twinning can be found on Hyde Daily Photo.

The 148 blogs that have signed up to the month's theme are:

Adelaide ~~ American Fork ~~ Arradon ~~ Aspen ~~ Auckland ~~ Aurora ~~ Avignon ~~ Bandung (Bunyamin) ~~ Bandung (Harry) ~~ Bandung (Eki) ~~ Barrow-in-Furness ~~ Belgrade ~~ Bellefonte ~~ Bogor ~~ Brighton ~~ Brookville ~~ Bucharest ~~ Budapest (Zannnie and Zsolt) ~~ Budapest (Isadora) ~~ Buenos Aires ~~ Busan ~~ Canterbury ~~ Cavite ~~ Château-Gontier ~~ Chateaubriant (trieulet) ~~ Chateaubriant (Bergson) ~~ Cheltenham ~~ Chennai (Shantaram) ~~ Chennai (Ram N) ~~ Christchurch ~~ Coral Gables ~~ Darmstadt ~~ Edinburgh ~~ Edmonton ~~ Evry ~~ Geneva ~~ Glasgow ~~ Gothenburg ~~ Grenoble ~~ Hanoi ~~ Helsinki (Kaa) ~~ Helsinki (PPusa) ~~ Hobart ~~ Honningsvag ~~ Hyde (Old) ~~ Hyde (Gerald) ~~ Istanbul ~~ Jefferson City ~~ Jerusalem ~~ Karwar ~~ Katonah ~~ Kuala Lumpur ~~ Kyoto ~~ Lakewood ~~ Las Vegas ~~ Lisbon ~~ London (Ham) ~~ London (Mo) ~~ Madrid ~~ Mainz ~~ Manila ~~ Mashhad ~~ Menton ~~ Mexico City ~~ Minneapolis (Mitch) ~~ Minneapolis (Greg) ~~ Misawa ~~ Monte Carlo ~~ Monterrey ~~ Muizenberg ~~ Mumbai ~~ Nashville ~~ Nelson ~~ New Delhi ~~ New Orleans ~~ New York City (Ming) ~~ New York City (Kitty) ~~ New York City (Eliane) ~~ Newport News ~~ Nice ~~ Norwich ~~ Orlando ~~ Palos Verdes ~~ Paris (Eric) ~~ Paris (Elsa) ~~ Pasadena ~~ Pensacola ~~ Petaling Jaya ~~ Petoskey ~~ Philadelphia ~~ Phoenix ~~ Pilisvörösvár ~~ Port Angeles ~~ Portland ~~ Portsmouth ~~ Prague ~~ Ramsey ~~ Rancho Palos Verdes ~~ Riga ~~ Rouen ~~ Saarbrücken ~~ Saigon ~~ Saint Louis ~~ Saint Paul ~~ Salem ~~ San Diego ~~ San Francisco ~~ Schenectady ~~ Seattle (Kim) ~~ Seattle (Chuck) ~~ Selma ~~ Seoul ~~ Sesimbra ~~ Setúbal ~~ Sharon ~~ Singapore (Zannnie) ~~ Singapore (Keropok) ~~ Sofia ~~ South Pasadena ~~ Springfield ~~ Stanwood ~~ Stayton ~~ Stockholm ~~ Subang Jaya ~~ Sunshine Coast ~~ Sydney (Sally) ~~ Sydney (Julie) ~~ Sydney (Ann) ~~ Tamarindo ~~ Tel-Aviv ~~ Telluride ~~ Tempe ~~ Terrell ~~ Tokyo ~~ Torino ~~ Torun ~~ Turin ~~ Vienna ~~ Villigen ~~ Virginia Beach ~~ Wailea ~~ Washington ~~ Wellington ~~ West Paris ~~ West Sacramento ~~ Weston ~~ Willits ~~ Yardley,


To view thumbnails for all CDPB participants to the theme, visit the City Daily Photoblog portal