Organisers hoping to entice new members to join twinning committee
Áine Ryan
WESTPORT may not be quite joined at the hip with the Breton town of Plougastel but it is among the most enduring urban twinnings in the country. That is according to one of the Westport-Plougastel founding committee members, Martin Curry. And now as the preparations for the second-leg of the partnership’s 35th anniversary celebrations get under way, Martin Curry and, another founding member, Aiden Clarke hope they can attract new members to both the committee and the group that plans to travel there next June.
“In June 2013 we are hoping that a large contingent of people from Westport and its environs will travel to Plougastel for the week-long festival to celebrate the 35th anniversary. It will be held in conjunction with the Plougastel Strawberry Festival,” Martin Curry said.
And Curry promises that all those who are interested in travelling to the seaside town in Britanny will not be forced to resort to a twin-engine Cessna plane – the rather shaky form of transport himself and Aiden Clarke used on their maiden voyage in 1976.
Continuing, Martin Curry said: “We really want to entice new members onto the committee and plan to hold a public meeting before Christmas. This connection has returned so many cultural and economic dividends over the last decades, we want to continue to develop these links even more. ”
Mr Curry confirmed that Banna Piob Cuan Modh (the Clew Bay Pipe Band) may accompany the Westport group on next year’s visit. This adds a certain serendipity to the milestone celebrations, since the 1977 twinning was directly responsible for the revival of traditional set-dancing and the St Patrick’s Day Parade in Westport.
Meanwhile, Aiden Clarke told The Mayo News that from the outset there was ‘great enthusiasm’ for the project by groups in both Westport and Plougastel.
“Over the years such groups as the ICA, the Mayo Sailing Club and the golf club have all been involved. We have also hosted school and sporting exchanges. Economic avenues have also opened through the partnership, particularly with Carraig Donn,” Aiden Clarke explained.
Pervading partnership
SINCE 1976 Martin Curry, Aiden Clarke and Myra Berry have been dedicated members of the committee that drives the continued partnership between Westport and Plougastel. Along with many other volunteers, including the present President, Martin McNally, they have worked alongside Westport Town Council to ensure the success of this initiative.
The foundation stone of this twinning was first built through Jacque Fournier, a regular visitor to Westport and a councillor in Plougastel.
Monsieur Fournier was also a member of the Ireland-Brittany Association and, through a cultural subsidiary of the United Nations contacted Westport Urban District Council (now the Town Council) about a possible linkage. At the time, Aiden Clarke, who was the local authority’s chairman, embraced the idea, immediately seeing the broad possibilities such a connection would develop.
Last April the success of this cross-cultural connection was proven when 85 Bretons visited Westport to mark the 35th anniversary of the link.
The group included members and officials of Plougastel Town Council, as well as three generations of one Breton family that have had a continuous association with the twinning since 1977.
When the Westport contingent reciprocates next June, its group will also include the children and grandchildren of residents involved in the twinning since its inception.
During the visit last April, Kana, a choral group from Plougastel participated in an Irish-Breton Mass at St Mary’s Presbytery and also presented a full concert in the Wyatt Hotel, hosted by the local committee, in conjunction with the Classical Covies. There was also an Irish-Breton céilí held in Derrada, near Newport, as well as a 35th Anniversary Banquet in the Castlebcourt Hotel.
Plougastel
SITUATED in the north-west of France in the canton of Daoulaz, Plougastel has a population of just over 13,000. The region is famous for its strawberries and next year when the Westport contingent visit during June, the twinning celebrations will be part of the Plougastel Strawberry Festival.
Plougastel is also twinned with the town of Saltash in Cornwall.
MORE on the Westport-Plougastel partnership, phone Martin Curry at 086 3741631 or Myra Berry at 086 0693033.
