CANDLES OF FRIENDSHIP

July 2022

Skerries Town Twinning Shines a Light of Friendship for Ukraine

Skerries Town Twinning held a moving ceremony on Sunday 24 July 2022 in Skerries Golf Club where four specially commissioned Candles of Friendship were lit with the intention of linking Skerries to Ukraine. Skerries is twinned with the Canton of Guichen (France) which in turn is twinned with Srem (Poland) and Srem has a link with Lviv in Ukraine. The candles were decorated with the national flower of Ireland, France,Poland and Ukraine (Shamrock, Iris, Poppy and Sunflower) and the wooden bases, made from recycled teak, bore the names and national flags of each location. Three of the candles were then sent on a European adventure. One will stay in Guichen and two will go to Srem and from there one will go to Lviv. It is intended that on Christmas Eve we will light our candles so as to shine a "Light of Friendship" across Europe. We hope to link up the lighting ceremonies via the internet. In the meantime we will be encouraging other twinned towns and local communities to adopt the idea.

Modern town twinning has its roots in the ashes of the second world war. The aims of town twinning are to build friendship, provide mutual support and gain a better understanding of other communities so as to reduce the risk of conflict - we need these more than ever.

The ceremony was the final event of a memorable visit by a delegation of 16 visitors from the Canton of Guichen during which they attended presentations and discussions on the work of Sustainable Skerries and Skerries Response
to Ukraine groups, visited local attractions and enjoyed an evening of entertainment with the Rush Traditional Irish Music Group in Skerries Harps as well as playing boules and learning about Currachaí na Sceirí (traditional rowing boats). Skerries Town Twinning would like to thank all our twinning friends who helped to make the visit such a great success. A special thanks to all who hosted guests, those whocontributed to the iDonate appeal and those who gave other donations. We also appreciate the generosity of Allcare Pharmacy for providing a Covid Protection pack and Aidan Herron who gave each guest a copy of his book "Ardgillan Castle Revealed".