The history of the Jugon-les-Lacs - Lenzkirch twinning |
50 years ago, a twinning partnership did not seem as easy as it does today.
The Jugon parish priest at the time, Abbé Brajeul, loved to travel and, during a stay in Germany, had stopped by chance in Lenzkirch, a pretty little town nestled between in the Black Forest, 1000 km from Jugon , 50 km from Freiburg and 2 hours’ drive from Strasbourg.
He found that there was a folk group which performed in the region, and since he himself had set up a similar group of musicians and dancers, "The Rosargue" in Jugon, he immediately decided he would like the two groups to make contact with each other.
Initially, an invitation was sent for the Lenzkirch group to come to the Flower Festival in Jugon in 1969. It was a well-known festival at the time and many people from Jugon still remember the decorated floats and enjoyable atmosphere that the festival promoted.
Sponsors were even found to help fund the first trip of the German group to Jugon, and the dancers and musicians stayed with local families. They were mostly youngsters, boys and girls, full of enthusiasm and keen to get to know each other.
So started a long history of friendship between the people of Jugon and Lenzkirch, who meet up regularly at folk festivals in the two municipalities.
Back in the 70s, it was 6 years before the twinning agreement became official. Abbé Brajeul worked tirelessly to smooth out the last difficulties, and there was a ceremony in 1975 in Lenzkirch, then in 1976 in Jugon (which by then had changed its name to Jugon-les-Lacs). The twinning ceremony took place in the presence of Mr. Fernand Hamon, Mayor of Jugon les Lacs, who firmly supported the idea of a twinning arrangement with a German town, a symbol of the clear reconciliation between our two countries, and Mr Klaus Denzinger, Mayor of Lenzirch.
Doctor Böss became the Twinning Committee Chairman in Lenzkirch, and Abbé Brajeul in Jugon.
The friendship has continued, thus providing an opening towards Germany and Europe. Our visits to each other continue regularly, both for adults and youngsters. Throughout the years we have tried to help young people who want to work in our twin town and we have maintained official group visits at the rate of every 2 or 3 years.
In this way, every 5 years we celebrate another twinning anniversary, which gives the opportunity either for sixty people from Jugon, or sometimes more than 100 Germans to visit each other. Our German friends always visit us with their ‘harmony’ (group of musicians) made up of numerous youngsters and adults who then perform in Jugon-les-Lacs and sometimes in one of the nearby towns.
The Jugon parish priest at the time, Abbé Brajeul, loved to travel and, during a stay in Germany, had stopped by chance in Lenzkirch, a pretty little town nestled between in the Black Forest, 1000 km from Jugon , 50 km from Freiburg and 2 hours’ drive from Strasbourg.
He found that there was a folk group which performed in the region, and since he himself had set up a similar group of musicians and dancers, "The Rosargue" in Jugon, he immediately decided he would like the two groups to make contact with each other.
Initially, an invitation was sent for the Lenzkirch group to come to the Flower Festival in Jugon in 1969. It was a well-known festival at the time and many people from Jugon still remember the decorated floats and enjoyable atmosphere that the festival promoted.
Sponsors were even found to help fund the first trip of the German group to Jugon, and the dancers and musicians stayed with local families. They were mostly youngsters, boys and girls, full of enthusiasm and keen to get to know each other.
So started a long history of friendship between the people of Jugon and Lenzkirch, who meet up regularly at folk festivals in the two municipalities.
Back in the 70s, it was 6 years before the twinning agreement became official. Abbé Brajeul worked tirelessly to smooth out the last difficulties, and there was a ceremony in 1975 in Lenzkirch, then in 1976 in Jugon (which by then had changed its name to Jugon-les-Lacs). The twinning ceremony took place in the presence of Mr. Fernand Hamon, Mayor of Jugon les Lacs, who firmly supported the idea of a twinning arrangement with a German town, a symbol of the clear reconciliation between our two countries, and Mr Klaus Denzinger, Mayor of Lenzirch.
Doctor Böss became the Twinning Committee Chairman in Lenzkirch, and Abbé Brajeul in Jugon.
The friendship has continued, thus providing an opening towards Germany and Europe. Our visits to each other continue regularly, both for adults and youngsters. Throughout the years we have tried to help young people who want to work in our twin town and we have maintained official group visits at the rate of every 2 or 3 years.
In this way, every 5 years we celebrate another twinning anniversary, which gives the opportunity either for sixty people from Jugon, or sometimes more than 100 Germans to visit each other. Our German friends always visit us with their ‘harmony’ (group of musicians) made up of numerous youngsters and adults who then perform in Jugon-les-Lacs and sometimes in one of the nearby towns.