Ashburton commemorates a half century of ‘Twinning’ with French town

Ashburton is celebrating its 50th anniversary of twinning with the French town of Cleder.

Residents visited Cleder in June for the French side of the celebrations and the Clederois are coming over on this August bank holiday weekend on this side of the English Channel. 

A parade will take place on Saturday 23 August at 11am at Cleder Place in the town centre to Ashburton Town Hall, where a charter will be signed, followed by an official reception. 

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The Ashburton twinners have planned events for the whole weekend and many of the shops are decorating their windows to celebrate this event.

Janet Lockwood-Lee, Chairman of the Twinning Association, said: "Twinning means a lot to me as my father was one of the founders. I am chairman of the committee that acts on behalf of the town council and very proud to oversee the 50th anniversary and represent something my father began all those years ago.” 

The Ashburton-Cleder Twinning Association dates back to 1971 after a chance meeting in a Brittany bar between two businessmen Louis Mesguen, a Breton farmer, and Fred Miners, an Ashburton haulier. 

The two could not speak each other’s language but with hand signals and a few glasses of wine the idea of a twinning between the two towns was born.

“Louis asked my father if we were twinned with any town in France, which we were not, so they thought both our towns would make a good twinning as they were both the same size with a lot in common”, Janet explained.

Fred returned to Ashburton and in 1975 a group from Cleder visited Ashburton where an official charter was signed by dignitaries from both towns and, after the return visit to Cleder, the twinning became official.