Horsham marks forty years of twinning with Lage in Germany
On May 17th 1985 Horsham District Council and Lage Town Council signed a document to commemorate the twinning of the two towns. Since this time, twinning has been supported by the Horsham Twinning Association, led by voluntary members of the Twinning Committee. In the past forty years, there have been many exchanges between the two towns involving members of the public and also school exchanges, rugby tours, music groups and the Horsham Joggers.
To celebrate the Fortieth Anniversary, Lage Town Council invited members of the Horsham Twinning Association to visit them in order to celebrate this milestone together. A group of 12 people visited Lage recently and were made very welcome by their German hosts and hostesses, the Lage Twinning Association and the Town Council. Lage which has a population of around 35,000 lies about 70 miles south-west of Hannover in the state of North Rhine Westphalia. Like Horsham, it is a market town and has a history of brick manufacturing. A very interesting and varied programme was prepared for our visit.
On the first day we were given a tour of the town and invited for refreshments in the new Rathaus (town hall) by the Mayor of Lage, Matthias Kalkreuter. In the afternoon we visited the beautiful extensive Taoasis Botanical Garden. That evening we were invited by Lage Council to a welcome dinner and presented with a framed document commemorating the occasion. In return, the Mayor was pleased to receive two framed pictures of Horsham donated by Horsham District Council.
On the following day we were given a tour of the historic Detmold Castle, still lived in by the Prince of Lippe and his family, followed by a trip to the imposing statue of Arminius, known as Hermann the German, famous for leading the army which defeated the Romans in the nearby Teutoburg Forest. On the last day we travelled to Minden for a boat trip on the Mittelland Canal, the longest artificial waterway in Germany.
We hope that the strong friendship and links between our two towns will continue in the future. If you would like to find out more, or to join us, please go to our website below.
https://horsham-twinning.org.uk/