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Hebden
Bridge likes to be different so is part of a three way
twinning ! It is connected with Warstein on Germany and St Pol
sur Ternoise in France.
Hebden Royd Town Council arranges regular visits and exchange
trips to both towns.
Warstein, Germany
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| Warstein is in the north of the Sauerland, a land of hills,
lakes and forests, which gives way to the North German plain.
The industrial area of the Ruhr is about an hour's drive away
to the west. Stadt Warstein lies in the administrative area of
Soest which is about half way between Dortmund and Kassel. |
Warstein itself lies in a valley and has a number of
small villages in the hills and valleys around it, in this
respect it is not dissimilar to Hebden Bridge. With about 30
000 inhabitants, it is, however, a larger town and, with over
half its area wooded, forestry is important.
Also in the area are electrical, steel and plastics industries
together with limestone quarries and perhaps the best known,
the huge brewery where Warsteiner beer is made.
Due to its location, though, it is not only an industrial
town, but also a popular holiday area offering, among other
things, watersports, and walking with plenty of accommodation
and camping available. There is a wildlife park and
interesting caves with stalactites and nearby is the Moehnesee
and the Moehne Dam.
There has been a connection between the schools of the two
towns for some time but the link with Warstein became an
official twinning in 1995, thus completing a three way link
connecting St Pol, Warstein and Hebden Royd.
St Pol sur Ternoise, France
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St Pol is in northern France, in the rolling wooded
countryside of Flanders. It is north of Amiens, between
Montreuil and Arras and just over an hour from the channel
ports of Calais and Boulogne. Sharing some similarities
with Hebden Bridge, it too is the centre of a community of
small villages and hamlets in the surrounding area.
Farming is the principal commercial activity in the
region, although tourism also features so there are hotels
and camp sites and, of course, restaurants. |
The town has an historic past and whilst it was heavily bombed
in 1944 (and subsequently rebuilt) there are still a few well
preserved public buildings worth seeing. There are British
cemeteries in St Pol and it is from here that the Unknown
Soldier began the journey to his resting place in Westminster
Abbey in 1919.
Activities such as cycling, mountain biking, archery, angling,
and clay pigeon shooting are all available locally. There are
places of interest in the area, there is a motor racing
circuit and the coast is not far away. The battlefields of
Azincourt (Agincourt), and, from the First World War, the
Somme, are in easy reach. There are good train links to Paris
from nearby Arras.
St Pol and Warstein became twin towns in 1965 and celebrated
their 35th anniversary in the year 2000. The link with Hebden
Bridge came later and the official charter was signed in St
Pol in 1979 and in Hebden Bridge the following year.
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