On Monday 2 september the gong was struck in Bath in the town hall of our sister city Bath. This gong was a gift from the municipality of Alkmaar and was handed over to the municipality of Bath on 31 August 1946. This was on the occasion of the confirmation of the friendship between both cities, which originated in the last war year of the WWII.
The Bath-Alkmaar Twinning Committee (BATA) revived The ‘Gong Ceremony’ a few years ago. Since that time, on or around August 31, The gong has been struck by guests of BATA.
This year it was the honour to the mayor of Bath Cllr Michelle O'doherty along with members of the 31st Bath (St Barnabas) Scouts who visited Alkmaar in early August to take part in scouting group Dirk Duyvel's international camp.
Rubies married couple
Also present at the ‘gong-bonging’ was the couple Frans and Sheelagh Hof-O'connor, the Dutch-English couple who celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary on August 4th. They met when Sheelagh visited Alkmaar as leader of the Sea Cadets Bath in 1980 (their story is read here)
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