12th June 2023
Visit to Wiltshire Town Honours a Twinning Friendship of Almost Seventy Years
GERMAN STUDENTS VISIT MALMESBURY. STUDENTS from Niebüll in Germany are enjoying a trip to their twin town of Malmesbury. The visit marks the towns celebrating almost seventy years of friendship.
A civic reception
On 7th June, a civic reception at the town hall, led by Mayor Cllr Gavin Grant, welcomed twelve Year 9 and Year 10 students from Niebüll.
Cllr Grant said: The basis of the connection between our two towns is the importance of our young people to the future of our communities, countries, continent and planet.
They walk in the footsteps of hundreds of young people from both our towns. They’ve built the important friendship that we celebrate today and have honoured for almost sevent years.’
On the visit
Thirteen students from Friedrich-Paulsen-Schule are currently on the exchange visit. It’s organised by Malmesbury School and supported by the Malmesbury & District Twinning Association. During their stay, the students will be taking part in lessons and will be visiting Bath and Bristol as well as Malmesbury itself. Students from Malmesbury School will be visiting Niebull themselves later this month.
Headteacher Brett Jouny said:
‘At Malmesbury School we value our foreign exchanges and partnerships. We know that one of the best parts of learning a new language is visiting the country and being part of the culture. Exchanges allow our students to do this. They’re popular events, and we’re delighted to have them up-and-running again for the first time since the pandemic.
‘We strive to prepare our students to be global citizens and part of this is learning a modern foreign language. Languages remain a popular subject at the school.’
Well-established links
Niebüll has been linkedwith Malmesbury since 1954. In that year, the first youth exchange happened. Over the years, hundreds of people from each town have visited each other. The towns underwent a formal twinning in 1976. Niebüll is a town with a population of around 10,000. It lies close to the Danish border in Nord Friesland, Schleswig-Holstien.
In the town, residents speak German and Danish with an economy based on the small business sector. Like, Malmesbury, it has a strong artistic culture and is home to the Richard Haizmann Museum of Modern Art, the Natural History Museum and the Frisian Museum.
Malmesbury Town Council works in partnership with Malmesbury School and the Malmesbury & District Twinning Association to ensure the mainentance of strong links with its two twin towns. Niebull in Germany and Gien, in the Loire region of France. This three way relationship is unusual in town twinning.
Malmesbury also has a strong connection to two ‘friendship’ towns. Malmesbury which is the principal town in Svartland, West Cape Province, South Africa. And Bad Hersfeld, Hersfeld-Rotenburg District, Hesse in Germany.
For more information about Malmesbury Town Council visit https://www.malmesbury.gov.uk
