New Common Chapter promoted at Carnegie celebration event

CCBS Deputy Director, Dr Anthony Soares, was delighted to attend the celebration event to mark the successful conclusion of the Carnegie UK Trust’s Twin Towns UK programme. The event took place on the 24th of October in North Shields, one of the towns that took part in the whole process of this twinning project, and where it was twinned with the Welsh town of Merthyr Tydfil.

The other twinned towns that completed the programme were Oswaldtwistle (England) and Whitburn (Scotland), and Wooler (England) and Broughshane (Northern Ireland). The project’s aim was to pair towns in the UK with similar characteristics or socio-economic challenges, working together to consider how to make positive changes in their communities.

Given the nature of this Carnegie initiative, this celebration event was an opportune moment for CCBS to make useful connections with its “Towards a New Common Chapter” project, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and the Community Relations Council. As the participating groups from Ireland and Northern Ireland have begun the penultimate stage of this project, they are engaging with community groups from England, Scotland and Wales as they work together to agree a final version of the New Common Chapter for Cooperation Within and Between these Islands, and it is hoped that the groups involved in the Carnegie project will be part of this process.

For more information on the Towards a New Common Chapter project go to https://crossborder.ie/what-we-do/projects/common-charter/