Royal Greenwich and Maribor celebrate 50 years of mutual friendship

by WO Staff | Greenwich

The Royal Borough marked a 50- year friendship with the Slovenian town of Maribor last week. Delegates from Maribor, including Mayor, Mr Andrej Fištravec visited the royal borough on June 2 to visit some of its top tourist spots including Eltham’s Tudor Barn and Cutty Sark Gardens, Greenwich.

The Cutty Sark Gardens, Greenwich.
(Credit: via Landezine)

The Slovenian guests also met with the royal borough’s new Mayor, Cllr Norman Adams and other guests to further strengthen the links between the twinned areas.

The visit of Maribor’s delegates was marked at Well Hall Pleasaunce with the unveiling of a plaque and the planting a cutting from one of the oldest vines in the world from the Slovenian town.

The Mayor, Cllr Adams said: “We thank you for this special gift, and look forward to continuing our town twinning relationship for years to come.”

Among the delegation was Slovenian Soprano singer Nika Goric, who is currently studying at the Royal College of Music.

Later in the day the guests visited Greenwich and Cutty Sark Gardens, where they quite literally gave locals a taste of Maribor - by setting up a marquee and offering members of the public free samples of authentic Slovenian food and wine.

City of Maribor, Slovenia.
(Credit: via Wiki).

The royal borough has a long history of town twinning links with different countries, creating a friendship agreement for co-operation. It is twinned with two other areas namely Reinickendorf in Germany and Tema in Ghana.

The Royal Greenwich Town Twinning Association was set up in 1968, helping to maintain contacts and links with the twinned towns.

Association member Cllr John Fahy added: “I’m delighted to join the Mayor at this important event. Building relations with other cities and Maribor is a key objective of the royal borough. It is now more about sharing ideas and experiences to benefit both communities, create a sense of understanding by young people and work with partners to support the work in a range of ways.”

Now locals can pay a return visit to Maribor thanks to a new two-hour airline service running June to October from Southend Airport.