Council
TOWN TWINNING
Ales, France
Ales, a town similar in size
to Kilmarnock, is situated in the south of France, in the Department of
Gard and in the region known as Cevennes.
It is a tourist centre, with
local attractions including many Roman sites, impressive cave formations,
avenues of giant bamboo, and the famous Pont du Gard. The scenery around
Ales is varied and the town is within easy travelling distance of the
Camargue flatlands.
 Ales
has a thriving industrial and commercial life and is an historical centre
of the silk industry, which owed its survival to Louis Pasteur in curing
diseases of the silkworm in the last century. The town was once an important
area of coal mining, but this has declined and now there are computer
factories, a packaging plant, a piano-making plant and a steelworks. The
industrial areas are situated at the outskirts of the town. In the town
centre is a cultural centre and a theatre, with many shops and pavement
cafes. Large-scale redevelopment of housing has slowly been replacing
the old buildings in the town.
Twinning
Ales was twinned with Kilmarnock
in 1974. A square at the top of the Foregate in Kilmarnock has been named
after the town of Ales.
The Charter was duly signed
in 1974 and the biggest single twinning celebration undertaken by the
former KDLC (now East Ayrshire Council) took place in May 1994, when the
20th anniversary of both Ales and Kulmbach took place.
This has been
a reasonably active link over the years with quite regular exchanges of
not only civic groups but also tourist, educational and sporting exchanges
have taken place.
Exhibitions
In particular, the Council has supported both the SITRA and the SERCOM
exhibitions which take place in Ales, year about, in October/November.
Both are high-tech exhibitions which attract visitors from Germany, Spain
and Italy in particular and are viewed as a "shop window" for
companies to promote their products. Both large and small local companies
have taken part in the exhibitions from which some good business opportunities
have resulted.
The next special anniversary was in 1999 when the link reached its 25th
year.
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