Ballymahon pays a visit to French twin

Fifteen years ago, a traditional French town called Landevant, located in central Brittany in the North West of France, reached out to the town of Ballymahon with the hope of making a connection. It was then that the towns were twinned and a long friendship begun.

They had tried twinning with various European towns, including some in Ireland, without any joy until one day the local Postmistress, Isabelle Heddebaux, noticed letters coming through her post office to an address in the town with a return address in Ballymahon, Co. Longford. With this she approached her local council with a view to twin the two towns. The Mayor of Landevant contacted Ballymahon through Longford County Council and the rest, as they say, is history.

For the past fifteen years, representatives from Ballymahon Twinning Group and Landevant have been developing areas of culture, education, commerce and tourism in both of their towns by way of improving linkage between the two locations.

Last week, the town of Landevant celebrated as eighteen representatives from Ballymahon paid a visit to the area where they were guests of Host Families as well as the Mayor and the local council.