Twinning visit to St Contest firmed up for October

Dancers performing in Kilcullen for the 2019 twinning charter signing.

The delayed reciprocal signing of Kilcullen's Twinning Charter with the French town of St Contest in Normandy will take place at the end of October, writes Brian Byrne.

The event will complete an arrangement entered into in March of 2019 when a delegation from St Contest visited Kilcullen and signed the twinning charter in the Heritage Centre during the Kilcullen 700 celebrations. 

A planned return visit to France was postponed by the pandemic, and a proposed trip in April or May of this year was put back due to scheduling issues. Now the twinning committees of both towns have agreed that a Kilcullen delegation will visit St Contest from 28-31 October.

The Kilcullen group will include staff members from CPC and Scoil Bhride, and discussions are under way about bringing musicians and dancers for the weekend, which will include an official reception hosted by St Contest Mayor Stefan Guillot as well as visits to places of interest in the St Contest area.

"The links that we can forge between schools in the two communities are very important to the twinning," says Kilcullen committee member Tanya Flanagan. "They are in fact the future of the whole process."

Any individuals or groups who would like to participate in the trip should contact Nessa Dunlea or Noel Clare.

The twinning came after an exploratory trip by a small Kilcullen group in 2018 to St Contest, resulting in the first signing of the charter during the St Patrick's weekend festivities in the following year.

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