Branford was indeed adopted as a twin for Brentford, and Mike Carman was one of those involved in the process. I don't think the twinning was ever formalised by the Council, though I stand to be corrected.Hounslow's first twin town was Issy Les Moulineaux, a suburb of Paris. For many years there was a town twinning committee, but this is now moribund, the twinning mainly expressed these days through pupil exchanges in our secondary schools.In the Soviet era Hounslow twinned with Leningradski, a suburb of Moscow. I have heard little about this since in recent years and believe that local government reorganisation in Moscow means that the district no longer exists as a free standing municipality.In the mid 1980's Hounslow also twinned with Ramallah, a political act that sought to draw attention to the suppression of local democracy under Israeli military occupation. There were recent attempts to revive this twinning committee, but I am not aware of a current group.Most recently, it was agreed to twin Hounslow with Lahore in Pakistan and Jalandhar in India.A formal twinning ceremony with Lahore Cantonment took place, and when Roger Clarke was Mayor he visited Lahore. The Jalandhar twinning has proved more difficult, and despite visits there the formal twinning is yet to occur.Throughout this period Hounslow's policy has been that no Council funds should be used to finance twinning visits. Roger Clarke's trip was financed by the twinning committee as was the earlier visit by representatives from Lahore. On occasions when Hounslow's Mayors have visited Issy they were able to fund the costs from the Mayor's fund.
John Connelly ● 6897d