Campaign to restore twin town names to welcome signs

A campaign has been launched urging Warrington Council to restore the twin town names to new road signs welcoming people to the borough after the old ones were vandalised post-Brexit.

The welcome signs into Warrington have recently been updated with the removal of Hilden in Germany and Náchod in the Czech Republic – many of the previous signs had been vandalised post Brexit – with vandals inking out the names of Hilden and Nachod.

The council says the decision to remove the twin town names has nothing to do with Brexit and is simply to make them easier to read.

But now local resident Dan Warren has launched a petition calling for the council to restore the twin town names to the signs.

He said: “As a town which is trying to promote its culture and heritage and be open for trade and business, I think this is small but worthwhile token of appreciation to these relationships, in uncertain times.”

During the 1960s, the Lancashire Regiment developed friendships between German soldiers and families whilst being stationed in Hilden near Dusseldorf, and the first youth exchange took place in 1965, with the formal partnership agreement signed in May 1968. This predates the EEC which the UK signed up to in 1973. Warrington’s Male Voice Choir and the Youth Orchestra also have links with Hilden.

The link with Náchod District dates back to the fall of the communist government in 1990, and the district is close to the Polish border, 148km east of Prague, and the mutual partnership agreement was signed in February 1993.

A council spokesman said:“Many of the existing signs were in need of attention so we took the opportunity to make them more attractive and easier to read.

“Ultimately, the purpose of the signs is to let people know that they are in Warrington and that’s what they do.”

The spokesperson added that the tradition of town twinning pre-dated the EU and would live on in Warrington, long after the UK leaves, through the efforts of like-minded individuals and groups and their shared ideals.

“Most of our neighbours don’t state their twin towns on their signage, yet are no less proud of their European ties.”

To sign the petition CLICK HERE