Friends of Tourcoing off to France with special gift

Tony Smart with his painting featuring the new bridge over the River Roch in the town centre

The Town Hall in Tourcoing, twinned with Rochdale, is set to receive an original painting of the River Roch later this month.

Long-standing member of the Rochdale Association and member of the Manchester Academy of Fine Art, Tony Smart’s latest painting features the new bridge over the River Roch in the town centre.

The painting is a fitting gift set to be presented to the President of Les Amis de Rochdale and the Mayor of Tourcoing later this month, when members of Friends of Tourcoing make their bi-annual visit to their family hosts in France.

The painting will be hung in the Tourcoing Town Hall.

During the visit, The Friends will enjoy several days of very entertaining and interesting social, cultural and civic activities.

This will be joined by Councillor Ian Duckworth and Christine Duckworth, who will be newly appointed as Mayor and Mayoress.

Situated close to Lille, Tourcoing is similar to Rochdale in many ways, from the beautiful Town Hall in the heart of the town and the Church of Saint-Christophe with its magnificent organ and bell tower which has a peal of 49 bells. Tourcoing also has an open-air market and large supermarkets.

Rochdale and Tourcoing share a history of textile industries, their decline and resulting problems. From a rural cottage industry in weaving, the economic importance of Tourcoing town grew and was acknowledged in the 1300s with the granting of a Free Fair. By the end of the 19th Century, Tourcoing was one of the most important centres for wool in the world.

As in Britain, the Nord's textile mills suffered in the world depression of the 1930s, and boomed in the reconstruction after World War Two. In the late fifties, the relentless flood of cheap imports drove most of them out of business. Just like the textile mills of Lancashire and Yorkshire, they could not stand the competition.

From an idea that European twinning could help to heal the wounds of war, the official ceremony to twin Rochdale with Tourcoing took place in 1956.