30 April 2007
Waipa District Council and Cambridge carried off a major award at the Sister cities annual conference held at Te Anau last weekend.
Waipa won first place ahead of seven other entrants in the Culture, Sport or Recreation Category, with their entry “A Unique Partnership” featuring Cambridge’s commemoration of Armistice Day and its French Sister City of Le Quesnoy’s commemoration of ANZAC Day.
Waipa was represented at the awards ceremony by Mayor Alan Livingston, Deputy Mayor Peter Lee and Cambridge Community Board member John Bishop.
Mayor Alan Livingston said the award was excellent recognition for Cambridge. “It was a great acknowledgement of the numerous Cambridge individuals and groups who have made Armistice Day an outstanding success and ensured a highly beneficial Sister City Relationship with Le Quesnoy.”
“This Sister City relationship is unique in a number of ways and is something that was specifically acknowledged by the competition judges” he said.
Cambridge and Le Quesnoy is the only formal Sister City relationship between New Zealand and France (one of only 2 in Europe). Le Quesnoy is the only place in France to commemorate ANZAC Day and Cambridge is the only place in New Zealand (other than at the Cenotaph in Wellington) to commemorate Armistice Day.
Mayor Livingston said “The competition judges commented that the Cambridge – Le Quesnoy project stood out from all category entrants because of its unique attributes, the fact that Armistice in Cambridge has played such a large part in raising the awareness of the Sister City link with Le Quesnoy, and the significance of the actions of Kiwi soldiers who liberated Le Quesnoy in the last battle of World War I.”
The conference was attended by about 140 people from throughout New Zealand plus Sister Cities in Australia, China and Japan. It emphasised the cultural and economic need for and benefit of international friendships and partnerships.
Waipa’s representatives at the conference also presented a strong case for the 2009 Sister Cities annual conference and awards to be hosted by Cambridge.
A copy of the award-winning submission is available for download here (PDF 4.04MB).