Newbury Town Council has voted unanimously to officially twin with Carcaixent, a town near to Valencia in Spain. Carcaixent has been associated with Newbury for over 20 years, and is already twinned with Newbury’s four other twin towns, Braunfels in Germany, Bagnols-sur-Cèze in France, Eeklo in Belgium and Feltre in Italy.
Cllr Adrian Edwards, Leader of the Council said,
“I fully support this twinning, I have visited Braunfels and Bagnols, and look forwarded to visiting Carcaixent in the future.” Newbury’s twinning activities are organised by volunteers through the Newbury Twin Town Association. The association is very active, organising at least half a dozen twinning trips and events each year, with the official twins and several other associate towns.
Cllr David Fenn, the Mayor of Newbury said,
“There have been many exchanges between the people of Newbury and Carcaixent over the years, and I am very pleased to see this relationship formalised”.
Carcaixent is close to the West coast of Spain, and is surrounded by orange groves. The townspeople celebrate the regional ‘Fallas’ festival every March, which attracts international tourists. The festival has medieval origins, and involves the creation of enormous figures made of wood, Styrofoam, plaster and papier-maché which are set alight on street corners.
The Newbury Twin Town Association (NTTA) will now begin the process of organising a twinning weekend, and inviting visitors from Carcaixent and the other twin towns to celebrate, which will hopefully take place in 2019. Zita Lang, Chair of the NTTA said,
“Anyone can join the Twin Town Association, and be part of our events – by hosting European visitors or taking part in trips to our twin towns – have a look at our website www.newburytwintown.org.uk/ for details”
