Attempt to boost town's links with Canada

Councillors have called for a renewed attempt to secure a formal partnership between Poole and St John’s in Newfoundland, Canada.

Members of the Poole charter trustees made the suggestion last week during discussions about the relationship with the town’s only twin – Cherbourg in France.

The former leader of BCP Council, councillor Vikki Slade, said it was “more important than ever” to secure links with other countries and that it would not be a taxpayer funded “jolly”.

Links between Dorset and Newfoundland on the east coast of Canada date back centuries, particularly through the cod trade.

Attempts were made several decades ago to twin Poole and St John’s – the capital of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador but were not pursued because of the distance between the two.

But during a discussion about the town’s current twin town of Cherbourg, Cllr Slade suggested Poole look to form ties with other towns, particularly in Canada due to these historic links.

“I think it’s more important than ever that we maintain cultural business, and leisure links with other places,” she said. “Poole only has one link now with Cherbourg which is clearly a perfect place as we are physically connected with them.

“However, our sister towns have other places, and we do have wonderful historic links with places in Canada.

“I’m not suggesting that we will go off on a bit of a jolly funded by the council but there are lots of ways that we could build on the relationships with other places that we have links with and I would love to see the town open its doors and open its mind to other places.”

Several years ago there was a campaign to erect a statue of a Labrador and Newfoundland dog in Poole which would have been an exact replica of a statue already in place in St John’s

Councillor Ann Stribley, who was a councillor at the time of Poole and Cherbourg twinning said there were still ties between the two and that a number of councillors had visited St John’s before.

She highlighted the work of the Wessex Newfoundland Society which helped maintain connections between the two.

Fellow charter trustee and former member of the society, councillor Mike Brooke, said creating a formal twinning link would be “a real tribute” to the work of the organisation.

“I know people in St John’s would certainly welcome it to continue the communications and the history and, of course, with the onset of digital world it doesn’t necessitate visiting,” he said.

“It would be a wonderful experience I think for everyone else so I would be more than happy to propose that we look at the possibility of twinning with St John’s in Newfoundland to carry on that great tradition that there has been over the centuries.”

Twinning links are required to be set up through BCP Council rather than the charter trustees but it was agreed that the proposal would be put before the council for consideration.