WORCESTER Twinning Association has been awarded a £10,000 grant to temporarily twin the city with a French village to mark the centenary of the First World War.
The funds were recently given to the Twinning Association by the Heritage Lottery Fund, after Worcester City Council agreed, back in 2013, to undertake a temporary twinning with Gouzeaucourt as part of its commemoration in remembering Worcester’s ‘adoption’ of the village, in helping it re-build in the aftermath of war.
Responsibility for organising the twinning was passed by the City Council to the Twinning Association, who decided to mark the commemoration by researching and mounting an exhibition about the relationship between Worcester and Gouzeaucourt.
There will also be a website to accompany the exhibition, telling the story of how the French village was on the front line and occupied for much of the war, as well as detailing the help Worcester gave in the town’s post-war reconstruction.
Located in the Nord department in northern France, Gouzeaucourt has a population of around 1,254 and was the scene of some of the most fierce fighting during the four-year war.
There are 916 casualties from several nations interred at the Gouzeaucourt New British Cemetery.
Liz Smith, chairman of Worcester Twinning Association, said: “We’re delighted to have been awarded this funding by the Heritage Lottery Fund, so we can give our time to launching this exhibition next summer.
“In the spirit of the twinning movement, we will be sharing our work with visitors from Gouzeaucourt.
“We hope people in Worcester and from around the county will find it interesting and also hope it will enable the city to remember and understand the sacrifice of those who lived on the front line in France, as well as Worcester’s generosity in helping them to re-build.”
Visit www.france-voyage.com/cities-towns/gouzeaucourt-22011.htm for more information on Gouzeaucourt.
