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Blackburn with Darwen town twinning trips 'should go on'

12:34pm Thursday 24th June 2010 in


THE MAYOR of one of Blackburn with Darwen’s twin towns has insisted taxpayer-funded visits between the venues should continue.

Andreas Hollstein, mayor of the German town of Altena, was one of the delegation who travelled to Peronne, in Northern France, for a twinning visit.

Blackburn with Darwen is twinned with the two towns, and the borough council sent six people for the two-night visit, paying for their flights at a cost of just over £1,500.

Mr Hollstein suggested delegates could share the cost in future, or try to arrange free accommodation, to beat the squeeze on public spending.

He added: “It was good to see our friends again, and to talk about town twinning.

“We need such visits to make connections between the towns.

“It’s not easy by telephone. If you can’t meet, there can be no twinning between the towns.”

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Comments(12)

A Darener says...
2:56pm Thu 24 Jun 10

"THE MAYOR of one of Blackburn with Darwen’s twin towns has insisted taxpayer-funded visits between the venues should continue." I'm sure he does, why would he want to stop these "jollies." Let them pay for them themselves out of their own pocket. I have to pay for my holidays myself so should they. What benefit does the town get from this twinning nonsense?

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ste.g says...
5:37pm Thu 24 Jun 10

A Darener wrote:
"THE MAYOR of one of Blackburn with Darwen’s twin towns has insisted taxpayer-funded visits between the venues should continue." I'm sure he does, why would he want to stop these "jollies." Let them pay for them themselves out of their own pocket. I have to pay for my holidays myself so should they. What benefit does the town get from this twinning nonsense?
couldnt agree more.so if there is anyone out there that can explain to me just what good twinning does, i would appreciate hearing from you.

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local chap says...
7:48pm Thu 24 Jun 10

its a council **** up on us.it needs to stop.dont pay council tax for 1 month and watch em screw us for it with threats and fines.we should have a public audit which i'm sure more of this money is spent on these events and more,get the foreignors to come over here to our royal lancashire shows and arts in the park,oh no i forgot they have cancelled them due to no money,tossers

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amazed says...
8:55pm Thu 24 Jun 10

There may have been some justification years ago when we needed to build up a good relationship with the continent after the war. That is over 55 years ago and times have changed. So has the availability of money. It is time to tighten our belts and that means you, councillors, as well. We hear that this and that road cannot be repaired because of the many "holes created by the bad winter and we have run out of cash to repair them" and then we have reports of these "jollies"
It is not on anymore so CEASE.

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feeossie says...
9:59am Fri 25 Jun 10

sad to say it's as bad where I live.I in the current economic climate the government should make councils account for every penny they intend to spend before they get their budget allocation. Things like mayoral car and dinners and the twinning association could stop tomorrow and the man on the street wouldn't even notice. The councils are badly out of touch on this issue.

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Ken Shuffles says...
10:44am Fri 25 Jun 10

How are these councils going to come up with any ideas if they don't borrow some from the continent ?

....... Maybe we need someone on the council who can put together an original idea ?

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woolywords says...
4:43pm Fri 25 Jun 10

I wonder, has anyone, living in the Borough, ever visited our twinned town or met anyone from there?

In fact, if the truth be known, (and I pay for this), have not a clue where we are twinned with.

Blackburn, population 105 085
Altena, population 19 252
Hmm, peas in a pod there, then.

Peronne, population 8 754
Apart from their proximity to the now infamous Somme, I fail to see what our towns have in common.
(Peronne has a statue of a clenched fist, denoting womens sacrifice, during the Great War.)

Given this towns history, woven in cotton, trampled by rich rulers and riven by poverty; would not the perfect twinned town be, somewhere, despoiled by our forebears, and yet have common links?
I suggest somewhere on the sub-continent, of comparable size/population, where anyone, within this Borough, may have a certain empathy, for our 'twin', rather than some other place, with no interest in each others well-being.

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ste.g says...
5:45pm Fri 25 Jun 10

Ken Shuffles wrote:
How are these councils going to come up with any ideas if they don't borrow some from the continent ?

....... Maybe we need someone on the council who can put together an original idea ?
ye gods ken.you might have a point there.that was quite funny for you.but there could be something in what you say.

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Ken Shuffles says...
2:15pm Sat 26 Jun 10

....... The fact that they are having to look around for an original idea speaks volumes about how ineffective and cloudy their own faculties of Perception actually are.

It would be even more funny, if it wasn't so worrying, pointless and expensive to send these Clueless Clone-lings anywhere out on their own, never mind to another continent.

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Ken Shuffles says...
2:18pm Sat 26 Jun 10

Englands People need someone with a NEW IDEA if they are going to lead any of the others anywhere.

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happycyclist says...
11:34am Mon 28 Jun 10

Staff working for BwDBC, serving the people of Darwen and Blackburn will have their jobs threatened or their pay compromised in cutbacks whilst silly ideas like this are allowed to continue? Why?

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amazed says...
5:00pm Tue 29 Jun 10

happy cyclist, Darwen.
You ask why these silly ideas are allowed to continue.
Well I suggest that the councillors who go on these "jollies" do not think their remuneration (I don't know how much they get for attending to their council duties) is sufficient and need to enhance they income with these "jollies"
When I was working I was fortunate to be allowed to go on behalf of my firm to various functions at home and abroad and they were very useful in establishing contacts with firms of a similar type (even to the extent of having jobs offered to me by competitors - very flattering but never accepted!!).
I just cannot see what advantage the council trips are to Blackburn with Darwen. Ken Shuffles, Burnley suggests that we can get new ideas from these trips. I would think that the difference in population would suggest that the French will gain more ideas than we will.

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