This article is from page 31 of the 2009-10-13 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 31 JPG
A DELEGATION from Ennis Town Council will travel to Langenfeld in December to mark the start of a new partnership between Ennis and the German town.
Town manager Ger Dollard told last Monday’s meeting of Ennis Town Council that representatives from the office of the mayor of Langenfeld had written the council with a view to establishing a partnership between the towns.
“They are very enthusiastic about this. There have been articles in the local media, a lot about the visit by Ali. It’s presented a very positive image of Ennis. They have invited councillors to visit the town in the first week of December and I think,
given the positive image portrayed of Ennis, the council should accept,” said Mr Dollard.
Cllr Michael Guilfoyle (Ind) told the meeting that the council should avail of the opportunity to “build links to Europe”.
Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) asked how much the trip was likely to cost. Mr Dollard responded by saying that the letter received from the mayor’s of- fice stated that the total cost of flights from the German airport of Weiss to Shannon, was likely to be around €60.
Langenfeld is located between the cities of Cologne and Dusseldorf in the German state of Nordhein-West- fallen. It has a population of 59,000 residents.
The link was first proposed in May
when Franz Kolzer, Town Twinning co-coordinator, wrote to Ennis Town Council, on behalf of Mayor of Lan- genfeld, Magnus Staehler.
“This year Ireland is represented in the “Wilkommen Irland/Failte Eire cultural programme, and the people of Langenfeld are getting to know Ireland better through a broad range of cultural, academic and entertain- ment initiatives,’ wrote Mr Kolzer.
He continues, “Langenfeld has been searching to initiate a partnership with an English speaking town for a number of years, but has been so far unsuccessful in this regard. What could be a better result for our Ire- land year than to find a partner town in Ireland? For this reason Ennis has come to our attention.
According to Mr Kolzer, “The
town of Langenfeld would envisage a multifaceted exchange, including at schools level, between sports teams and on a private basis, and we would be delighted if the town of Ennis SJ aT-Nacre Mr mCyBO OBOE: Duma (oA. VA
Ennis is already twinned with the American city of Phoenix and the French town of Saint Paul de Fe- nouillet.
Ennis has been twinned with Phoe- nix, Arizona since 1988. A special Ennis/Phoenix Twinning Board has been in existence since this time with the aim of strengthening the links between the two communities. A successful Student Exchange Pro- gramme is organised annually, which allows students from both communi- ties the opportunity to learn about the others region and country.