Skerries Town Twinning Association was delighted to receive a Gold Star of Twinning Award (Toile door du Jumelagf) at a presen-tation in the city of Antwerp on Friday May 24th, The Association was particularly honored, as this was the second time Skerries Town Twinning Association has won this pres-tigious award, having previously received a Cold Star in 1934. Incidentally, Skerries is the only town in Ireland to have received the award this year.

The award was unveiled in Skerries Mills on Saturday June 15th to a small gather-ing of locals. The Chairman of Skerries Town Twinning Association, Mr. Brendan Friel, spoke of how the Twinning pro-ject has helped Skerries become more appreciative of foreign cultures and societies. "Through our partici-pation in the Town Twinning, we have become active EU members and enhanced our role in the EU. However we should also broaden our hori-zon not just to coun-tries such as France and Spain, but further afield to the Eastern-bloc of European coun-tries, such, as the Czech Republic".

These sentiments were then echoed by An Cathaoirleach Cathal Boland. "Through the Town Twinning Associations, we can learn a lot'about for-eign cultures and soci-eties. It is important that we understand our European neighbors, especially the former Warsaw Pact countries, as that is where the future of Europe lies". Skerries native, Deputy Jim Glennon told the gath-ering how St. Malachy had predicted the future importance of the Mills hill and who would have predicted how right he would be. Deputy Glennon then added, "Walking from the harbour at Skerries I noticed how the sails of the Windmill were turning and I think it's symbolic as it conveys the progress being made by the town. Skerries is constantly evolving and the Town Twinning Association has a key role in the cultural progression of Skerries". Each year since 1993 the European Commission has given a prize to the best projects submitted by twinned towns for financial assistance under its Education and Cultural programme. Nearly 2,500 projects, from all over Europe, were sub-mitted to the Commission in 2001 of which some 1,400 received grant aid.

A distinguished panel of judges then selected the ten best projects for Gold Star awards. The award is given to projects, which are deemed to have worked positively towards bringing together citi-zens of the EU. As the EU's Cultural Commissioner, Vivienne Reading com-mented, "I am proud that the Gold Stars have been awarded to projects which are both successful and original. Town Twinning is now developing on a wide basis of economic, social and cultural themes. By supporting Town Twinning the European Commission shows the EU's full involvement in a Citizen's Europe".

The award-wining project took place in June of last year. The Town Twinning Association invit-ed its twin, the Canton of Guichen (France), as well as the towns of Srem (Poland) and Milevsko (Czech Republic) to send a group of young people and adult leaders to Skerries to participate in series of activi-ties, designed to bring the young people closer together and to heighten aware-ness of their common European identity and heritage. The Canton of Guichen has close relations with both Srem and Milevsko and for this reason it was decided to include then in its invitation. Unfortunately both Srem and Milevsko were unable to partici-pate due to financial constraints. The Twenty-three French visitors stayed with local families, whose children were of a sim-ilar age; this helped greatly with the inter-personal relationships! Emphasis was placed on communication between the two groups of participants during all the activi-ties, whether sporting, fun and cultural. Football, basketball, badminton and tennis tournaments were organized, each team being composed of teenagers of both nationalities. A partic-ular highlight of the sporting events was a memorable visit to Croke Park to view the Leinster semi-final between Kildare and Meath.

On the cultural side of things a guided tour of the Skerries Mills complex was arranged and an out-ing to Newgrange and Knowth (a World Heritage Centre). With the introduction of the Euro in mind, a novel Euro currency project was undertaken. This involved comparing prices of a range of goods in both countries and converting the results into Euro, so that a true comparison could be made. A shop-ping list of chosen items had been for-warded to the French visitors some weeks previously, so that up-to-date prices in French francs were available. Groups of both nationalities vis-ited shops and retail outlets in Skerries with the same list of goods and found the local prices, which were then converted into Euro.

The Awards Ceremony was held in Antwerp, Belgium dur-ing the European Conference on Town Twinning, which took place from May 22nd-24th. The conference was attended by over 500 delegates. As well as the official Awards Ceremony, the mem-bers attended a num-ber of workshops, organized around the themes of European integration and under-standing. These proved very interesting and helpful and gave an opportunity to share experiences with a wide range of dele-gates from other European towns. An official reception in Antwerp City Hall, a Gala Dinner and a con-cert provided by the Belgian National Orchestra were also included in their busy schedule.

Further Reading:

Skerries wins Golden Star Award for Town Twinning : Sport transcends boundaries of language and nationality and is internationally seen as an excellent way of bringing people together. Since 1991 the small Irish seasidetown of Skerries, on the coast north of Dublin, and the Canton of Guichen in Brittany, France, have done just that.

They have had contacts with each other, primarily organising school exchanges with a wide range of sporting activities. In 1994 they decided to become official Twin Towns, whilst also working together with a town in Poland (Srem) and one in the Czech Republic (Milevsko). Last year in June the Skerries Town Twinning Association (STTA) invited Guichen to send a group of young people and adult leaders to Skerries to participate in a series of activities designed to bring young people of the two regions closer together and to heighten awareness of their common European identity and heritage. 20 French children came and during the course of one week in June, took part in numerous activities together with their Irish counterparts.

Foremost amongst these were a series of sports events. Teams were organised to include both French and Skerries children, overcoming the national barriers, facilitating better communication between the two groups and helping to include the quieter participants in the activities. The young people also formed drama groups, staged a European theme quiz, bilingually conducted, and undertook the "EURO Currency Project", which highlighted awareness of the new currency among the respective local communities. The project involved comparing prices of a number of goods in both countries, and converting the results into Euro, so that a true comparison could be made. The Cost of Living results can be found on www.skerriestwinning.ie, the STTAs website, which has links to sistersites in Brittany and in the Czech Republic. Sites which not only holds information on this latest of exchange events, but is also devoted to the many activities that have taken place during the past ten years, logging the path of increasing European awareness among children, teachers and parents alike.