Town Twinning relationships  

Abergavenny currently has twinning arrangements with two towns: Beaupréau in France and Oestringen in Germany.

Beaupréau

Beaupréau, pronounced ‘BO-PRAY-O', is a small market town situated halfway between Nantes and Angers in the Loire and Maine region of North-Western France. The main activities of the area are shoe manufacturing, agriculture and viticulture (or wine growing). The area is famous for its rosé wine - Cabernet d'Anjou - and the sweet, white wine Côteaux du Layon. The town itself radiates outwards from the old narrow streets near the Chateau and the River Evre, to modern, orange-tiled houses in wide tree-lined avenues. It has two churches, several hyper-markets, a race course and excellent leisure facilities and schools for the population of around 9,000.

The first visit from Abergavenny to Beaupréau took place in 1988, followed by the first signing of the Twinning Charter in the Town Hall, Abergavenny. In the following year, the Charter was signed in The Marie at Beaupréau, since when reciprocal visits have taken place, including sporting and cultural exchanges, cementing many friendships and almost always, fortunately, in glorious weather!

The citizens of Beaupréau have presented a weathervane as a present to the people of Abergavenny, while Abergavenny celebrated the tenth anniversary of the twinning with the presentation of a letterbox to the town by an Abergavenny postman, (courtesy of Royal Mail) and this is now in situ outside The Mairie, still with the Welsh/English language information on it, but with the times of collection translated into French.

A large celebration took place in 2009 when the 20th anniversarty of the twinning arrangment with Beaupreau coincided with the 30th anniversary of Oestringen in Germany and representatives of all three towns organised a week long festival that involved food, dancing and a lot of merrymaking.

An active relationship continues with Beaupréau with, for example, a trip to Abergavenny by a group of Petanque players from Beaupréau. Anyone interested in joining this flourishing Twinning Association, whether it’s to help with the children’s knowledge of the French language, to brush up long-forgotten verbs, to engage in sporting activities within a new arena or purely because of a love of France and all things French, should contact the secretary Ian Vicary, 17 Lansdown Drive, Abergavenny NP7 6AW, tel 01873 854929, email ian@vicary1name@freeserve.co.uk .

Östringen

Abergavenny’s other twin town Östringen is situated in Southern German in the state of Baden Wurttemberg.  A town of similar population to that of Abergavenny, it has lively central and peripheral commercial areas.  Ostringen and its surrounding area enjoy a varied economy.  Agriculture, industry and tourism are included in this economy.  Ostringen is a significant wine producing area, whose wines are some of the best produced in the Baden Wurttemberg area.

Abergavenny Borough Council and Östringen Town Council formally exchanged their agreements of twinning in August and October 1968 and twenty-five years later in 1993 reaffirmed those agreements both in Abergavenny and in Östringen.  The twinning of Abergavenny and Östringen continues to be active and thriving.  Whilst the formal element of the twinning is between the town councils, the motor and impetus is provided by the Abergavenny - Östringen Twin Town Association (contact, Mr. Andre Arkell, 01873 853664).

The objects of the Abergavenny – Östringen Association are those which promote educational, cultural, economic and sporting exchange opportunities for the citizens of its towns.  It is worthy of note that King Henry VIII School has sustained and enjoyed a twinning with the Östringen Schools for over forty years, this being the longest twinning of the Schools in Wales and are one of the longest standing in the United Kingdom.