"The visitors arrived in Newtown on Friday 18th and were able to spend some hours exploring the town centre before being introduced to their hosts for the weekend at a reception at Coleg Powys. I am delighted to say that, as in previous years, the people of Newtown unhesitatingly opened their homes to the visitors, offering warm Welsh hospitality and taxi-ing them to wherever they needed to be.

Involving over 150 participants, the event was officially opened by the Mayor of Newtown, Councillor Mrs Elizabeth Sheriff. The sports began with the basketball with Guy Evans leading his team through an exciting competition, until finally beaten by a single point.

At the same time, the archery was taking place on the High School sports field, the table tennis in the fitness studio, the football on the Astroturf and the angling at the Fachwen Pool.

The triathlon began at 10.30 a.m. in the pool, followed by a 26k cycle ride and finishing with a 5km run. The badminton followed the basketball in the sports hall. Dave and Jill Peters' excellent planning meant that all the sports were completed by the allotted time.

Newtown took most of the sporting honours, and were awarded the perpetual trophy as overall points winners, a repeat of the 2005 result.

As a generous gesture to the German archery team who were not only a member short but also relatively inexperienced, the captain of the winning Newtown archery team, Graham Renshaw, presented the Germans with the trophy as a tribute to their enthusiasm. "They were a great bunch of girls", said Graham, "We thoroughly enjoyed the event, everyone had great fun."

All the feedback has been positive, particularly from the hosts, to whom we owe a great debt. The visitors left on Sunday morning, all of whom said how much they had enjoyed the all-too-short visit, and everyone, especially the Germans for whom this was their first visit to Wales, pledging to return with their families for a longer holiday. Roll on the next Olympiad, in Coria in 2009!

The first Twinning Olympiad took place in Les Herbiers in 2005 and Newtown won five of the seven sports.

The basketball team were the losing finalists but the winners, the French team, were so impressed they gave us the trophy as they felt we were the better team. What a wonderful sporting gesture. The pressure will be on us to maintain this level but we are confident that everyone will have a great weekend on 18-20 May.

The Olympiad is one event to have been organised by the Twinning Association which was formed over ten years ago. In 1996, a proposal was made to Newtown & Llanllwchaiarn Town Council that the town twin with Mitchelstown in Ireland. This suggestion was prompted by the fact that the Robert Owen (Newtown) Credit Union had twinned with Mitchelstown Credit Union and they sought to expand the links.

The suggestion prompted the Council to seek public opinion on the subject of twinning and a further five possible twin towns were suggested. After a series of public meetings at which each contender was 'presented' to the public, a vote unanimously led to Les Herbiers, in the Vendee region of France, to be announced the public choice.

Les Herbiers' 'champion' was Brian Davies, a retired teacher who had had a holiday home in the Vendee for some years. Brian was elected to be the Chairman of the newly-formed Newtown Twinning Association.

A delegation from Les Herbiers arrived at Christmas 1996 for exploratory talks with the Twinning Association and the Town Council and it was felt that there was sufficient similarities between the towns to make them compatible to twin. The formal Charter was signed, in Newtown in May and in Les Herbiers in October 1998, by the Mayors of both towns.

Since then, exchange visits have crossed the Channel in both directions and many close links have been developed between individuals and groups since.

L'Ecole de Musique des Herbiers visited Newtown in 2000 and performed with Newtown High School Orchestra.

Newtown Male Voice Choir visited Les Herbiers in 2004 and gave several concerts in venues in and around Les Herbiers. As part of this trip, a group of Mid Wales craftsmen exhibited their arts as part of a larger art show.

Treowen School has visited Les Herbiers on numerous occasions and St Mary's Catholic School has similarly hosted St Joseph's from Les Herbiers.

In 2002, Coleg Powys Performing Arts students put on a joint production in Les Herbiers with their counterparts from the College Jean XXIII, and students from Coleg Powys Sports department have visited Les Herbiers as part of a larger delegation.

The Twinning Association participates in the Chrono Festival every October which comprises a cycle race, a trade exhibition, an agricultural show, and a culture festival. Each year, several hundred contacts are obtained for tourism businesses in Newtown, as Mid Wales is considered an affordable and easy-to-reach destination, although, prior to the twinning, not highly promoted in this region of France.

The Twinning Association has, in the past, also been able to assist with work placements for several students from Les Herbiers, including mechanical engineers, aerospace engineers, language students, computer technicians.

Members of the Twinning Association took part in a half-marathon in the Vendee in 2004, and this year a team of cyclists rode the 400+ miles from Les Herbiers, to arrive in Newtown at the same time as the Twinning Olympiad."

Article by Neil Badger