Coventry was the first city in the world to twin with another.
And we’ve gone on to collect 26 twin towns - more than anywhere else.
But do twin towns do any more than provide a holiday perk for councillors and is it time we de-twinned? Mary Griffin finds out...
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In 1944 Coventry started a trend that would spread across Europe and the rest of the world.
We twinned with the Russian city of Volgograd (then Stalingrad) as one war-ravaged city supporting another.
Now, there are 40,000 twin towns across Europe and more than 2,000 in the UK alone.
And Coventry has amassed more than its fair share with a staggering 26 twin towns to its name, from those with obvious shared histories such as the German cities of Dresden and Kiel, to the less obvious, such as Jinan in China and Kingston in Jamaica.
Coventry’s twinning obsession started as a noble pursuit, supporting our bid to be city of Peace and Reconciliation by partnering other cities that had suffered the devastation of war.
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But now, with more than two dozen twin towns in tow, did we just get carried away?
Cllr Tim Sawdon (Con, Wainbody) said in an interview with the Telegraph in 2011: “The original line of thinking was building on the principle of being a city of peace and reconciliation.
“It probably just got a bit out of hand and I think we did get a little bit carried away.
"I certainly don’t think we should be looking to twin any more.
“We tend to concentrate on the towns where there is a close cultural or trade relationship.
“Sadly a lot have fallen by the wayside. But the link remains even if it’s been dormant.”
He adds: “It’s always difficult to know what we get out of it. How do you measure cultural benefits?
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“It would be wrong to say the citizens of Coventry don’t get something out of it.
“The benefit for citizens is establishing a cultural relationship with other towns, which is useful.”
While the city council claims “there must be a reason” for Coventry twinning with Jamaica’s capital, Kingston, no one knows what it is.
And no twinning visits are believed to have ever been made between the two cities during our 49-year relationship
When Peter Davies was elected mayor of Doncaster in 2009 he went on to ditch Doncaster’s five town-twinning arrangements.
Having also slashed his own salary from £73,000 to £30,000, retired the mayoral car and scrapped the council’s free newspaper, he drew both scorn and adoration and was labelled the “Marmite mayor” for being “Britain’s most gloriously un-PC super mayor”.
According to Doncaster council, killing formal town twinning has saved £4,000-a-year and the twinning arrangements are continuing informally.
So is it time for Coventry – with a town twinning budget of £14,500 a year – to follow suit and pull the plug?
Cllr Kevin Foster, leader of Coventry’s Conservative group in 2011, said at the time: “Once you’ve twinned with a city it’s hard to say you don’t want that to carry on.
“Twinning originated in an era when it was very difficult for most people to travel abroad because it was very expensive.
“That’s changed over the last 60 years with the advent of package holidays and low-cost flights.
“There has also been an explosion in technology which allows much more exchange.
“Now, the idea of civic delegations setting off to exchange best wishes is coming to an end – although that still opens doors for trade.
“And yes, some elements of twinning have become more commercial.
“I wouldn’t say town twinning has had its day – far from it – but I think it will be a different sort of relationship in the future with less mayors flying between cities exchanging greetings and more links between communities facilitated by social media and the internet.”
That futuristic relationship is already under way in Warwick district where, instead of town twinning, a partnership has been set up at grassroots level with the district of Bo in Sierra Leone.
Because the partnership, called One World Link, is maintained and developed by citizens at ground level it doesn’t depend on Lord Mayors exchanging annual visits and Christmas cards.
Unlike Coventry’s 26 twinnings which were each sealed with a signed oath now tucked away in the Council House, the link between Warwick and Bo was developed more organically by members of the public making links between schools, sports clubs, scouting groups, round tables, churches and local authorities.
The link has been going strong for more than 30 years.
Chris King, chairman of One World Link, says: “The link was set up by three or four people who had worked for considerable years with big NGOs like Oxfam, and that experience formulated the idea of what they wanted to achieve.
“From the outset they wanted a community friendship link based on an understanding of why each community is at the point it’s at.
“There’s a huge amount of ignorance here about what’s going on in Africa.
“You can ask supposedly well educated kids about Africa and you either get the David Attenborough response about wildlife or the response about people running round with bones in their noses.
“Ask adults and they have no idea about the influence China has in Africa now, sucking out minerals in the same way that the British did and putting as little as possible back.
“People want to educate themselves about what’s happening on the other side of the world, and if people are encouraged to think more you can get rid of stereotypical old ideas.”
Warwick and Bo’s One World Link is one of several grassroots community links in and around Coventry that focus on engaging members of the public rather than the pomp and circumstance of civic occasions.
So, is it time for Coventry to ditch some of its “dormant” twinnings and focus instead on partnering initiatives led by the community rather than the council?
Chris says: “The people who can make community links have to be very motivated, inspirational and passionate, to the point where other people will become really interested and want to get involved.
“The council could start by laying out some sort of criteria for what they want twin towns to achieve.
“If each twinning hasn’t achieved those things in two years’ time, perhaps we should reconsider their status.”
He adds: “All organisations have to look in the mirror and ask ‘Are we answering the need we were set up for?’.
“If not, you’ve got to change things.”
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COVENTRY'S 26 TWIN TOWNS
(Year of twinning in brackets)
VOLGOGRAD , Russia (1944)
LIDICE , Czech Republic (1947)
KIEL , Germany (1947)
SAINT ETIENNE , France (1955)
DRESDEN , Germany (1956)
PARKES , Australia (1956)
BELGRADE , Serbia (1957)
CAEN , France (1957)
GRAZ , Austria (1957)
SARAJEVO , Bosnia/Herzegovina (1957)
WARSAW , Poland (1957)
ARNHEM , Netherlands (1958)
OSTRAVA , Czech Republic (1959)
BOLOGNA , Italy (1960)
CORK , Ireland (1960)
COVENTRY , Connecticut, USA (1962)
DUNAUJVAROS , Hungary (1962)
GALATI , Romania (1962)
KINGSTON , Jamaica (1962)
KECSKEMET , Hungary (1962)
GRANBY , Quebec, Canada (1963)
WINDSOR , Canada (1963)
COVENTRY , Rhode Island, USA (1971)
CORNWALL , Ontario, Canada (1972)
COVENTRY , New York State, USA (1972)
JINAN , China (1983)
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