MELKSHAM town councillor, Pat Aves, has been selected to be the town council’s representative on the West Wiltshire/Elblag Twinning Association.
Cllr Aves will represent the town council at meetings of the association, which was set up in 2000 between West Wiltshire District Council and the city of Elblag in north-east Poland.
Explaining the background of the association to Melksham News, West Wiltshire/Elblag Twinning Association secretary, Angela Millroy said, “The West Wiltshire/Elblag Association is unusual if not unique. The standard twinning model is of local twinning groups who run their affairs and encourage meetings between people of the (usually) two towns.
“The twinning was set up in 2000 between West Wiltshire District Council and the city of Elblag in north-east Poland. On the demise of the district council in 2009, the five towns of West Wiltshire agreed to continue to support the twinning.
“The mayors of the five towns of West Wiltshire become president of the Twinning Association in rotation. The chair and committee are elected from the members annually. Each town has a representative appointed by the town councils.”
Melksham is also twinned with Avon in France although there is no longer a twinning association to support the relationship.
In 2018, both Melksham and Avon’s twinning associations came together at the Town Hall in Melksham for the last time, to celebrate 38 years of ‘twinning’. For 38 years, members of each towns’ twinning association had connected via biennial visits, with each town taking it in turns to host and share their local culture. But in 2018 it was decided to wind down the association as it was ‘no longer viable’.
