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The Kentish town of Sittingbourne was twinned with Ypres in the early 1960s. The original aim was to find a town on mainland Europe that could be easily visited on a day trip.
Interest in the town’s twinning association has dwindled over the decades, kept alive by all but a few of the original members.

Locally, the Royal British Legion continues to keep some links alive between the two towns. In 2006 they transplanted two oak saplings from a wood near Ypres to a Sittingbourne park to commemorate the fallen.

These trees added to the tributes already in the town centre where the Avenue of Remembrance is lined by 212 trees – one for each of the men from Sittingbourne who were killed in World War One.

The story is narrated by Christine Rayner, the former editor of the East Kent Gazette.

Location: Sittingbourne, Kent ME10 4DE
Image shows Flanders memorial oak tree
Presented by Christine Rayner