Work gives fresh look to international friendship

Celebrating historic links which survived two world wars

Ashford town centre’s Friendship Stone has been given a facelift.

The feature, in the lower High Street, was given a makeover by Ashford Borough Council’s Town Centre Action Team (T-CAT) as part of its work to refurbish parts of the town centre.

The T-CAT team gave the Friendship Stone a deep clean and replaced the soil around it with new red woodchip.

The group also spent five days deep cleaning the flagstones in the lower High Street.

The Friendship Stone celebrates Ashford’s long-standing twinning relationship with Bad Munstereifel in Germany.

It was unveiled in Ashford in August 1983 by Mayor Jo Winnifrith and Heinz Gerlach from Bad Munstereifel.

Ashford has been twinned with the German town since 1964 and with Fougères in France since 1984.

The links go back to the First World War when Bad Munstereifel was occupied by British troops. One of the commanding officers was Major J. Goode, who formed personal friendships with a number of people in the town that were strong enough to survive even the Second World War.

Major Goode’s brother-in-law, John Wiles, was instrumental in forging a long-lasting link between the people of Ashford and Bad Munstereifel and, after many exchange visits between young people, a formal twinning agreement was signed in August, 1964.

Ashford, Fougères and Bad Munstereifel take turns to host an annual twinning event, with families accommodating representatives from the two visiting twin towns as part of this triangular partnership.

Cllr Bill Barrett, Ashford Borough Council’s lead member for town centre presentation and safety, said: “T-CAT works very hard in the town centre to make it a clean and a more attractive place to shop.”

Cllr Graham Galpin, portfolio holder for town centres focus, added: “The borough’s presentation is important to the council, so it is excellent to see that our important symbols of heritage, such as the Friendship Stone, are being well maintained and presented.”

The four-strong T-CAT team works across the borough doing jobs such as refurbishing street furniture, cleaning signs and tidying council car parks.

Residents with a problem or task that needs doing can email tcat@ashford.gov.uk or call 01233 331111 or tweet @TCATashford

Cllr Bill Barrett with T-Cat team members Tom Judd, Daniel Conlin and John Halliday by the Friendship Stone