Last December (2020) the Parish Council was approached to enter into a twinning arrangement with a village near Lille in northern France called Gruson. This village is about 90miles from Calais. Following the relaxation of the Covid travel restrictions two visits have taken place to put in place arrangements to cement these proposals.
Monsieur O Turpin (Mayor of Gruson),
Cllr A Boyd (Chairman of Bethersden Parish Council), Cllr J Blanford (Ashford Borough Council) meeting at the Mairie, Gruson., November 2021
First of all the Parish Clerk visited Gruson recently whilst he was already in France on a private visit which led to the Mayor of Gruson visiting Bethersden for a meeting on the 21st November. These meetings have enabled arrangements to be put in place for people from Bethersden to visit Gruson on Easter weekend (16/17/18th April 2022) to witness the famous Paris-Roubaix cycle race which passes through the village, and for people from Gruson to visit us on the weekend of the Queen`s Diamond Jubilee (4/5/6th June 2022) when many other activities are planned in Bethersden.
It is planned to make this twinning as inclusive as possible with the schools in both communities highly in favour of this project. Personnel visiting from either community would be accommodated privately in order for the participates to sample the local cultures.
The Parish Council is currently setting up a twinning committee to help facilitate arrangements similar to the one already set-up in Gruson which will be open to anyone interested.
Please contact the Parish Clerk at parish.clerk@bethersden-pc.gov.uk if you wish to participate.
Related posts:
HM Queen’s Platinum Jubilee 2022 – Twinning with Gruson, Normandy, France.
Proposal to twin Bethersden with a French village
