Twin town

Tunbridge Wells is twinned with the elegant spa town of Wiesbaden in Germany. Tunbridge Wells Twinning and Friendship Association (TWTFA) enthusiastically supports and nurtures the links (youth, culture, sport and business) between the two towns as fully as possible and seeks to promote and nurture new ones

How we came together

The Tunbridge Wells Twinning & Friendship Association traces its origins back to March 1960 when four ex-servicemen from Tunbridge Wells travelled to Germany to meet their counterparts in Wiesbaden. They were keen to heal the wounds of the Second World War and to build a better world for the future. The one-time combatants discovered they spoke a common language of active reconciliation and signed a partnership agreement in 1961. This was followed by a ‘Treaty of Friendship’ in 1971. In 1989 the two towns signed a Twinning Charter. TWTFA is proud to have had as its first President ex-Royal Marine Commando Tom MacAndrew – one of the four founding members who extended the hand of friendship to Wiesbaden over sixty years ago.

A little about Wiesbaden

Like Tunbridge Wells, Wiesbaden is an elegant spa town. It lies between the River Rhine and the foothills of the Taunus Mountains, just forty kilometres (twenty-five miles) to the west of Frankfurt. It is well-placed for business and pleasure and has some 290,000 inhabitants. Since 1945 Wiesbaden has been the capital of the State of Hesse.

The benefits of being a member of TWTFA

The Tunbridge Wells Twinning & Friendship Association is a member-based society. It is run by a small committee and acts as an intermediary between groups and individuals in the twin towns. To enable members to meet like-minded people and enjoy each other’s company, we organise social events, such as our annual start-of-the-year festive lunch and our summer barbecue. In recent years we have organised member visits to Wiesbaden for the summer Wine Festival, the traditional Christmas Market and the pre-Lenten Carnival. We have hosted and arranged concerts in Tunbridge Wells for a variety of musical groups from Wiesbaden and have made it possible for local musical groups to perform in Wiesbaden. We are always looking for new potential links with our beautiful twin town and are happy to act as intermediaries, helping local clubs and organisations to make contact with their counterparts and ‘go European’. For fluent German-speakers among our members, we have a small Kulturkreis, an informal discussion circle that meets at regular intervals throughout the year.

For further information, please go to Wiesbaden.de and for text in English go to the Homepage Landeshauptstadt Wiesbaden.  On this site you will also be able to sign up for a regular bulletin in English, listing current events in Wiesbaden.

Come and join us

Membership of the Tunbridge Wells Twinning & Friendship Association is open to everyone and costs just £7.50 per annum.

Please contact the Membership Secretary, David Elliott, at:

• Address: 34 Sir David’s Park, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN4 0JF
• Telephone: 01892 528400
• Email: elliottdge@hotmail.com