AFTER more than two decades of travel and friendship with their German counterparts, the Dursley twinning association has disbanded.

The Dursley-Bovenden Twinning Association has been wound up after a full working committee could not be organised, due to lack of members.

Former mayor of Dursley Cath Pierce, who was one of the first councillors to make a trip to Bovenden in Germany, said it was sad the association had ended but she hoped it could be revived in the future.

"Although the committee has ceased the twinning charter still exists and the association could be revived at any time," she said.

The twinning was created in 1989 by Dursley Town Council and Mrs Pierce and fellow councillor Pat Sirret went to visit Bovenden to speak to the local council about twinning. In a subsequent visit to England by the Germans the charter was signed and the first official trip to Germany, with over 30 Dursley residents, took place in 1990.

Every year since then the two associations have alternated visits to each other’s home towns, each staying in one another’s homes.

The twinning association has since been completely independent of the council and funded its own visits.

"Twinning was encouraged after the war, with the idea being people would visit their twinned town and realise they were just like us and peace would prevail," said Mrs Pierce. "The whole point is to meet new people and experience their way of life. People made lasting friendships with people from Bovenden and we had many fun times."

Phil Dee, a more recent member of the association, said he hoped the twinning between Rednock and the local Bovenden secondary school would remain strong. The committee will be handing over their final balance of around £1,000 to the school to use on the twinning link.

"We want the money to be used to help children who need financial support to visit Germany on the school twinning trips," he said.

"It is a shame the association has to end but we hope that in the future maybe it will be relaunched again."