Hat tip to Rick at the RWL, who wrote in to tell me that Novgorod Veliky is twinned with Watford in the UK. I had no idea.

Seems at first an unlikely couple, since Watford doesn’t have a Kremlin and Novgorod doesn’t have a Junction on the M1. But it turns out that the ‘twin town’ handle is something of a misnomer.

The practice of town twinning was developed in Europe after the Second World War as ‘a way to bring Europeans into closer understanding and to promote cross-border projects of mutual benefit’.

The EU thinks it’s still a good idea and, in 1998, decided to support the scheme with grants and awards, such as the ‘Golden Stars of Town-Twinning’. An EU Gold Star is awarded, it says, for ‘satisfying the need for a more tangible Europe‘. Hmmm.

There are some very odd pairings on the list, such as Narva and Ivangorod, on the Estonia-Russian border. These were actually one town that has been sawn in half several times throughout history and two fortresses face down each other from opposite sides of the moat. In the middle is barbed wire and two border points that bring any cross-border activity (as well as your Eurolines bus) to a total standstill. No EU Gold Stars going here, evidently.

Alex Goss, who took this recent picture of Ivangorod, writes:

‘This is a frontier with all its ugly attributes. There is no way further for honest Russian local history explorer anymore… I had a little embarrassment when I saw the fortress behind barbed wire fence with checkpoint.’

Rick pointed out that Watford has а large Debenhams department store and perhaps in Novgorod one can begin to see the tangible European influence in its twin store, ‘Volna’. In the top floor cafe, old ladies can indeed have tea and pastries in the afternoon.

Shoppers Outside ‘Debenhams’, Novgorod. (click for larger image)