Our History
There has been a ‘cultural partnership’ between Loches and St Andrews for over 20 years. How did this come about?
The story begins over 20 years ago when the town of Loches was looking to twin with a medieval town in Scotland. It occurred to a young student from Loches, Anne Sylvie Vassenaix, who was studying in Edinburgh at that time, that St Andrews would make a possible partner and through links with the Community Council, in particular Frank Riddell who was then Convenor, St Andrews was indeed proposed. A delegation from Loches arrived in St Andrews in November 1996. They gave an impressive presentation of Loches, showing this delightful town with strong similarities to St Andrews, dominated, as is St Andrews by great historical buildings, a constant reminder to both of their medieval past. St Andrews hitherto had always resisted formal twinning proposals and did so again. What developed instead was a more informal alliance between Loches and St Andrews which proved so successful that the towns were officially twinned in November 2015.
In 1997 a delegation representing a wide cross section of life in St Andrews headed by the late Mary Freeborn, was invited to Loches with the object of establishing long term cultural links. It was evident from the response from both towns that there was genuine interest and determination to make this alliance succeed. A Trust was formed, with charitable status whose aim, as spelt out in the Constitution, is to establish, develop, and by raising funds, afford opportunities to support educational, cultural and sporting links between the Royal Burgh of St Andrews and the town of Loches-en-Touraine in France. Following almost 20 years of exchanges, the towns were officially twinned during ceremonies in St Andrews (November 2015) and in Loches (March 2016).
In the past 20 years there have indeed been many exchanges, a large number involving both St Leonards School and Madras College, projects involving the primary schools, football tournaments and visits from young golfers. The Renaissance Choir, University Symphony Orchestra and Concert Band have all given concerts in Loches. There have been Art and Photography exhibitions and in 2016 artists from the Art Club spent a week painting in Loches. All this, plus many, many visits which were working or purely social. Since the twinning there is a renewed enthusiasm in both towns with visits from different organisations in the pipeline. The Alliance has a programme of fund-raising events such as have been reported elsewhere on the website which help to support these activities.
