Roye is a town with about 6500 inhabitants. It is about 700 km from Wedemark, 100 km behind the Belgian border. Paris is a good hour's drive to the south. Roye, the administrative seat of the canton of the same name, is located in the Département Somme and in the northern French region of Hauts-de-France. Amiens, the capital of the Département Somme, has about 133,000 inhabitants and is only 40 km away from Roye.
Roye has a very beautiful medieval town centre with small shops. The fire brigade and numerous associations offer a lively community that is gladly accepted and filled with life. A large modern swimming pool, a new ice skating rink with an epoxy resin floor and a theatre, which is also used as a cinema, offer further great opportunities to actively spend your free time.
Roye is situated in the middle of fiercely contested war theatres of the First and Second World Wars. Large cemeteries are a reminder of this time. The fallen of both world wars found their final resting place there.
Outside Roye there are industrial areas. Logistics companies are located there, as well as companies that provide jobs in the areas of clothing, food and office furniture production. There are also factories for sugar processing, canning and cardboard and plastic production.
The small town of Roye is typical of Picardy with a historic and lovingly designed town hall, beautifully landscaped gardens and friendly people.
1975
Beginning of a long friendship
The friendship between Wedemark and Roye began in the summer of 1975 when the Stüble family from Brelingen and the Tabaka family from Roye met on a camping holiday in beautiful France. They got to know each other and an intense friendship grew out of it.
1977
The idea of a partner cities
During mutual visits, the then mayor in Roye, Jaques Fleury, became aware of the German guests and was interested in the municipality of Wedemark, 700 km away. Mr Stüble and Mr Fleury came up with the idea of twinning the two towns.
1978
First meetings
There was a first meeting between Mayors Reimann and Fleury in the Wedemark town hall. In the following years, a lively exchange began between the associations of Wedemark and Roye with visits to local events.
1984
Sealed partner citties
Finally, in 1984, the twinning certificate between the municipality of Wedemark and the town of Roye was signed and the friendship sealed.
1989
5th anniversary
After years of living friendship, filled with mutual visits and numerous joint events, the five-year anniversary was celebrated together in 1989 and boules was already played there, among other things.
2004
20th anniversary
In 2004, the 20th anniversary of the joint partnership took place and was celebrated in a big way in Wedemark. Mayor Willers and Mayor Fleury presented each other with gifts and expressed their happiness about the very positive friendship. The twinning between Wedemark and Roye was brought to life in particular by the great voluntary commitment of the twinning committees of the two towns.
2006
Eventful year
2006 was an eventful year. The twinning committee from Roye visited Wedemark. A meeting of the associations took place in order to be able to hold joint events in the Roye/Wedemark association life in 2006 as well. The Wedemark fire brigade set off for Roye and spent a weekend full of activities with their fire brigade friends in Roye. The Scherenbostel archers also spent a lovely weekend in Roye. They enjoyed the time with their new friends on the shooting range with lots of fun and great togetherness. Joint excursions took place. The youth care of the municipality of Wedemark was also active.
2009
25th anniversary
The anniversary was celebrated in Roye. Mayor Tjark Bartels and the twinning committee set off for Roye with a whole bus full of Wedemärkers of different age groups. Everyone was warmly welcomed and celebrated together. The Harmonie orchestra provided top-class music. The fire brigades of Wedemark and Roye showed their skills. A weekend full of activities was spent together, as well as a trip to Paris organised.
2014
30 years of friendship
A big celebration was held on Ascension Day 2014 to mark the anniversary of the now thirty-year town twinning. The committee from Roye came to visit with a total of 50 visitors. There was an art exhibition, which was made possible by a visit to Roye in cooperation with the cultural officer Angela von Mirbach and, of course, fundamentally by the artist Emmanuelle Anais Aupest. The photos taken there were exhibited in the town hall with the help of helium balloons. During the course of the weekend, interpersonal relationships were not neglected through games, meetings and hikes. At the end, there was a party with food, dance and music to celebrate with everyone.
2018
Trip to Roye
In recent years, contact between Wedemark and Roye had become somewhat quieter. This led the committee board to make another trip to Picardy. Committee chairperson Francoise Villet invited people to her home. A tour of Roye was conducted, meals were shared and lively exchanges took place. Mayor Pascal Delnef spontaneously invited people to get to know each other. The beginning for a further success of the partnership was made!
2018
Memorial ceremony in Roye
In November 2018, Mayor Helge Zychlinski and the twinning committee accepted the invitation from Roye to commemorate the dead of the First World War together. A ceremonial wreath-laying took place to mark the end of the First World War 100 years ago. The cemeteries of the fallen were visited. It was a great honour for the representatives of Wedemark to be there and it once again illustrated the friendship that has grown over many years.
2019
Mutual visits
This year, the town twinning was actively boosted and filled with life through mutual visits. The 35th anniversary was celebrated in autumn. The twinning committee and Mayor Delnef came to Wedemark from Roye. It was a very successful weekend with a tour of Wedemark, an excursion to Bergen-Belsen and a visit to the Mooriz in Resse. There were many conversations and cordial exchanges. The twinning committee had organised a working meeting with the two committees, municipal staff and associations from Wedemark. Among other things, representatives of the Wedemark and Roye choirs exchanged ideas. The idea of a big joint singing festival on Ascension Day was born.
2020
Corona
And then came Corona. The planned singing festival was postponed until 2021. There were reflections on how the partnership could be lived together in these times. Video phone calls followed, in which one could at least see each other digitally and talk to each other in this way. Especially in this context, the idea of an own homepage was born, the implementation of which was extensively planned. At the end of the year, the committees sent each other Christmas packages with warm greetings. The Wedemark committee designed masks and had them made. They were enclosed in the Christmas packages as a present as an expression of friendship and sent to both the committee and the town hall in Roye.
2021
Corona brings innovations
Right at the beginning of the year, there were mutual New Year's greetings, which could be read simultaneously in the Wedemark newspaper and in the official gazette in Roye. In addition, work on the homepage was in full swing. There was a lot of planning, agreeing, creating texts and gathering photo material. In video calls with our friends from Roye, we thought about how they could contribute. New ideas emerged and we worked out how to put them into practice. In any case, it was clear to everyone that we will now arrange monthly video calls with each other! Hopefully we can visit each other again soon!
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