Sylvia Tibbs and Michael Bawtree Though there is some debate about the exact date for the start of the Twinning movement it really took off soon after 1945, aiming to build links and exchanges between towns and their citizens in order to promote greater friendship and understanding after the years of conflict. The Haslemere Association started in 1985 when a link was established with Bernay in Normandy. In 1991 Horb am Neckar in Germany was twinned with Haslemere. Since then a steady pattern of reciprocal visits has taken place and this year members of the Association will be hosting visitors from Bernay in Normandy in April and in June we will be going to visit our friends in Horb. The visitors from Bernay this year, 46 people including 10 under 18s, will all stay with host families in and around Haslemere for four nights, arriving and leaving by coach together. This is the largest number that Haslemere has ever hosted and local families have been very supportive in finding extra room in their homes to accommodate all these guests. During the visit some entertainments have been arranged by the Association for all the visitors, such as a cocktail party at a private address, a canal boat tour on the Basingstoke canal and a celebration dinner at Milford Golf Club. This programme allows plenty of time for the Haslemere hosts to arrange site seeing and other activities of their own choice. Language does not need to be a barrier; many of our Haslemere hosts speak some French, though others do not and many of the French speak little or no English. This does not seem to spoil an otherwise happy visit. Needless to say, most of the German ‘twinners’ are proficient in English. The reciprocal home hosting which is the norm for Haslemere has created many strong individual friendships, with families in Haslemere, Horb and Bernay remaining in contact throughout the year and visiting individually as well as through Twinning. This is not necessarily the pattern with other twinning associations, where visitors are sometimes accommodated in hotels. Experience indicates that this does not produce such robust connections because interactions remain largely group rather than family based. In between the French and German visits the Haslemere Association runs some popular events for the local membership. The Haslemere Association is very largely self-funding, so annual events such as a ‘Bastille Day‘ BBQ, a light-hearted but rigorous Quiz night and a New Year drinks party are substantial contributors to the fundraising needed to ensure that our French and German visitors can be appropriately entertained.