AROUND 70 visitors from Lymm made the trip to its twin town in France to celebrate the golden anniversary of the partnership.

Lymm is twinned with Meung-sur-Loire near Orleans in France and visits take place between the two towns every year.

To mark the 50 anniversary of the partnership, which was started by Lymm Urban District Council with support from Lymm Grammar School, Lymm Twin Town chairman Peter Birchall handed over a model of Lymm Cross.

He said, “As a souvenir I would like to present you with a model of Lymm Cross to remind you of the centre of our village.

“I hope it will go on show to encourage others to come to Lymm in future years.

“One of the highlights was a trip to Paris with a boat ride on the Seine.

“This was especially enjoyed by the numerous children who were present on the exchange and by the two families joining us for the first time.”

Last year’s chairman of Lymm Parish Council, Cllr John Bamforth, presented a painting of Lymm to the Mayor of Meung.

Cllr Bamforth said, “A new feature of this year’s visit was an art exhibition at a gallery in Meung organised by Will Swindlehurst who took the paintings over in his caravan.

“The work of 16 Lymm Artists was on show to help celebrate fifty years of twinning.”

Nick and Sarah Stone were among the families to make a visit for the first time.

They said: “We already had a love of all things French so joining the group was an easy decision.

“We are a family of four, our children are eleven and six, and we were placed with a family with a child of a similar age to our elder one.

“We received a wonderful warm welcome in their home and were taken on several trips to local attractions, and spent a day out sight seeing in Paris with a group of both French and English families.”

  • Anyone wanting to find out more about the Twin Town and how you can join should visit lymmtwintownsociety.co.uk and then talk to a member of the committee.

The society is open to anyone who lives in the Lymm area and you have no need to worry about your standard of French.