THANK you to the Kidderminster Standard for the opportunity to publish a monthly column.
This June, the lady Mayoress and I have had the great honour and pleasure of joining with the Twinning Association on their visit to Kidderminster’s twin town — Husum, which is a beautiful fishing and former shipbuilding port located in North Friesland, on the North Sea in Germany.
The weekend of our visit was their ‘Ringrinder Festival’, where horse riders in ceremonial dress parade through the streets of the town, before competing to find the most accomplished rider who is recognised as the ‘King’.
Also visiting during the weekend was a delegation from another of Husum’s twin towns – Trzcianka near Poznan in Poland. Husum takes their twinning, or ‘town partnership’ programme, seriously, and has five partner towns.
Listening to the speeches at the civic reception, it became clear to me how important the town twinning movement was, and is, in building and maintaining friendships, peace and understanding between people at a personal and community level between communities that were driven apart by war and hatred.
Next year is the 60th anniversary of the formal Kidderminster-Husum Twinning Association (although links between our two towns go back to the 1950s).
One way we will celebrate next year is with a civic visit from Husum to Kidderminster.
Kidderminster Town Council and the Twinning Association will be looking forward to ensuring that their visit is as enjoyable and enriching as our 2025 visit has been.
Coun Doug Hine
Mayor of Kidderminster
29th Jun, 2025
