Horsham Chairman hosts French twin town visitors

Horsham District Council Chairman Cllr David Skipp welcomed representatives from Horsham’s French twin town, Saint Maxent L’Ecole to Horsham on Friday 5 November.

The French delegates were the Mayor of Saint-Maixent École, Monsieur Stephane Baudry and Madame Karine Bris, Secretary of the Twinning Association.

During their visit they did a tour of the town stopping off at The Pavilions in the Park Leisure Centre, the Capitol, Horsham Museum and Art Gallery, St Mary’s Church in the Causeway and the Council’s offices at Parkside where they met the senior leadership team.

Cllr Skipp commented:

This was the first visit from our French town twinned colleagues for some time and represents a significant reaffirmation of our links after a period of restrictions on travel and commerce.

It was a pleasure to host them. There was a strong sense of ‘bon hommie’ and mutual respect and understanding throughout their visit.

Saint-Maixent L’Ecole, is a much smaller town than Horsham, with a population of some 7,000 but, like Horsham, it has a long history and faces some similar challenges to rural communities in the UK, with younger residents moving towards larger conurbations, leaving an increasingly older demographic and a subsequent impact on services and infrastructure.