A CELEBRATION was held in Clevedon to mark 20 years of twinning with two European towns.

At the weekend, visitors from Epernay in France and Middelkerke in Belgium were welcomed to Clevedon to mark the 20th anniversary of the relationship between them.

Dignitaries from Clevedon’s third twin town, Ettlingen in Germany, were also part of the celebrations, which included a formal reception at the Walton Park Hotel on Saturday evening.

A cake boasting the coats of arms of four towns was presented and the evening also included musical entertainment from Miscellany and Helen Everest’s string quartet.

During their stay, the 62 visitors were also shown around the newly-refurbished Curzon cinema, to which the town of Ettlingen donated �2,000, and took a trip to Weston.

Many of them stayed with residents in Clevedon while the mayors and dignitaries from each town stayed at the Walton Park Hotel.

Clevedon Twinning began in 1980 with Ettlingen in the Black Forest area of Germany. In 1990 twinning was established with Epernay in the Champagne region of France and the Belgian coastal town of Middelkerke became the third town in 1991.