Hull Council - Hull's Inaugural Freetown Day
Hull and Freetown (Sierra Leone) have the longest standing twinning link of its kind in existence.
The City of Hull designated 25th October (the anniversary of the original twinning link), as ‘Freetown Day’. The purpose of Freetown Day is to provide a focal point for the twinning, thereby stimulating the development of highly innovative projects that will draw together our communities and which encompass the full range of the links between the two cities – cultural, faith, civic, community, local government, charitable and educational.
Freetown Day 2007 consisted of 6 distinct projects many of which have already received national and international recognition, and the success of Freetown Day 2007 has ensured that 25th October will continue to be celebrated in both cities for years to come – sustainability was always a key outcome. Freetown Day 2007 resulted in a large amount of positive media attention on the city of Hull and its international activities – indeed part of the day was broadcast live on the BBC.
We believe that this submission is worthy of recognition as we are not aware of any city in the UK that has ever attempted a project of this type or scale in support of its international activities.