The Mayor of Lewes, Councillor Shirley Sains, was invited to join the Oberbürgermeister of Lewes’ twin town, Waldshut-Tiengen, for its 607th Schwyzertag celebrations. Councillor Sains welcomed the opportunity to explore further exchanges that will benefit the residents of Lewes and to continue with the two towns’ strong friendship.

Having attended the opening of the festivities, known as Fassanstich (the broaching of the first beer barrel), the Mayor’s visit went on to include a visit to Brauerei Rathaus, a guided tour through Tiengen, an art exhibition, music concerts and a visit to a primary school with the headmaster.

During the visit Councillor Sains presented the Oberbürgermeister, Dr Philipp Frank, with gifts from local Lewes creatives to celebrate the mutual ties in personal and cultural spheres that the twinning relationship is built upon.

Following the visit, Dr Frank thanked the Mayor for coming and said: “I would be happy if our town twinning could be further developed in the future and if we could realise one or more projects together. Especially now, after we have suffered from the restrictions of the Corona pandemic, we have to work harder than ever to maintain our town twinning.”

One of the key actions the Mayor has come away with from her trip is to identify key contacts to enable relationships between educational establishments between the twin towns.

Lewes Tube Map artist Matt Kent, whose creative take on the map of Lewes was given to the Oberbürgermeister, said: “It was such an honour to provide our Mayor with a framed map to present in Waldshut-Tiengen, and I hope it will be appreciated by their town as much as it is in Lewes.”