2023 marked the 25th Anniversary of the Selkirk / Plattling Twinning Group, which had already seen very successful visits from a number of our Bavarian friends.

The twinning is a happy story. About 800 Plattlingers have visited Selkirk so far, while some 400 Selkirk folk have been to visit Plattling. All sorts of groups have exchanged visits: High School pupils, firemen, policemen, football teams, our pipe band, their ‘oompah’ youth band, cooks, craftsmen – the list expands continually. Many have visited several times.

Its success is due to several things: Bavaria and Scotland were formerly small independent kingdoms subsumed and dominated by more powerful neighbours; each town has a Roman past; each town has a long and significant history resolutely maintained of which they are fiercely proud and each town has a distinctive vernacular culture. Perhaps the most important cause of the success was the deliberate intention at the outset to make this a ‘people first’ enterprise by widely involving the community, and not a twinning officially organised, then, after much ‘official’ junketing, handed back to the community.

The twinning has proved fruitful at every level and handsome bronze plaques in the Market Places in both Selkirk and Platting attest to the friendship. Perhaps the underlying reason for the popularity of our twinning was the discovery that the Plattlingers are like-minded, fun-loving, warm and generous people and like Borderers, the Bavarians enjoy a jolly good party. We try hard to reciprocate, even though Plattling is over twice our size and a very wealthy little town. We welcome participation from other Borders towns, as does Plattling its nearby towns.

2023, being the 25th anniversary of the Twinning, was celebrated with visits in August, and August / early September. Many activities were provided for the visitors, including trips to various sites of scenic and historic importance in the Borders, plus of course the opportunity to enjoy much of our local music, culture, food and drink. In addtion, a celbration was organised at the Victoria Halls, in which many speeches were made, cementing the deep friendships between the two townships.

2025 has coninued the tradition of hosting more successful events, which have brought much enjoyment to us all. 

The Plattling Twinning Group