Kings Langley officials to visit French twin (From Watford Observer)

Kings Langley officials to visit Achiet-le-Grand to cement relationship

3:30pm Saturday 1st September 2012 in News By Ben Endley, Senior reporter

Residents and councillors from Kings Langley are preparing to visit to Achiet-le-Grand, the village’s twin in northern France.

The trip, scheduled for the weekend of September 22 and September 23, is intended to “renew and celebrate our friendship” since the two settlements were formally twinned in 2009.

Members of the Kings Langley Parish Council received the invitation from the Mayor of Aciet to visit the town and attend a commemorative ceremony in which he will unveil of a sign on the outskirts of Achiet-le-Grand declaring the link between the two communities.

The visit is being jointly funded by a grant from the parish council and contributions from the individuals going.

The links between Kings Langley and northern France runs significantly deeper as Christopher Cox, a First World War hero from the village, was honoured by a service in 2007.

Mr Cox, a father-of-eight, acted as stretcher bearer with the seventh Battalion of the Bedford Regiment, during World War One and took part in an attack on German defences south of the French town, near Arras in northern France in 1917.

Risking his own life to save others, despite heavy gunfire, Mr Cox was rewarded with Britain's highest military award, the Victoria Cross.