By Larissa Brittan
Wednesday, August 24, 2005

The Village of Newbury could soon have a twin.

Newbury’s municipal council carried a motion at the start of July to allow Coun. Monte McNaughton to pursue an idea he came up with on a visit to the United Kingdom in 2001. 
“I was in England, and I went to the town of Newbury - which our Newbury is named after - and saw a sign saying that the town was twinned with a couple of other towns in Europe,” he said. “I thought, we should do this too.”

The process of twinning cities is simple: the two communities agree to be “twins” and they share resources and ideas to better tourism and economics in both cities. McNaughton sent a letter asking Val Bull, the mayor of Newbury (UK) to consider twinning her municipality with the Village of Newbury. 

“As a small, yet growing municipality, we have much to offer,” McNaughton wrote. Our economy is growing rapidly right now, as many businesses are expanding and jobs are being created. Many new houses are being constructed and new residents are relocating here. The most exciting thing we notice, though, is the sense of community that we see in people. They are proud to be from our rural village. We are proud of our heritage and want to share it with you. Newbury, Ontario, was settled by English settlers many years ago. This would make twinning very unique.”

He sent the letter on July 27, and has yet to receive a reply, but expects to hear back from Bull by early September.

“They’re quite a bit bigger than us but, basically, we’re similar from the standpoint of history. We’re named after them,” said McNaughton. “They’re a lot bigger, a lot older, and we would like to possibly bring some history here and take some of ours there via plaques. We’re hoping to grow, for us, increased tourism, things like that.”