Mayor bids “Guten Tag” to young visitors from Wrexham’s twin

A group of 15 young international visitors were shown around Wrexham Council’s Guildhall as part of a cultural exchange visit.

The group were from Markischer Kreis – Wrexham’s longstanding cultural twin town.

The visit was part of a long-running tradition between TuS Plettenberg and Borras Park Albion Football Club, which has been going for nearly 40 years.

The two clubs have strong links with one another – Borras Park chairman Ivan Povey was one of the first young people to take part in the exchange trip over to Germany back in 1980.

As part of the week-long trip, youngsters from Markischer Kreis also toured Anfield Stadium and visited Alton Towers them park.

Cllr John Pritchard, the Mayor of Wrexham, said: “While twinning work with friends in Germany has lessened as budgets have tightened, it’s very important that we in Wrexham keep up our cultural links with Germany, and visits such as these do a lot towards keeping that international friendship going.

“As such, I’m incredibly grateful to Borras Park Albion and TuS Plettenberg for their hard work in organising this visit, and was very pleased to be able to welcome young people from Markischer Kreis to the parlour and the Council Chamber during their visit.”

Mark Griffiths, German exchange organiser at Borras Park Albion, said: “The visits take place every year, with the visits switching every other year – our young people will go over to visit Plettenberg next year.

“I think it’s very important that young people from either side get to visit different parts of the world and see different cultures.