Essex town becomes first to twin with Ukraine

The town of Burnham-on-Crouch has become the first in Essex to be twinned with a Ukrainian settlement.

It was paired with Yaremche, located in western Ukraine, after town councillor Stephen Stratton spent six months volunteering in the country.

Dignitaries hoped the relationship would help to forge stronger cultural and economic ties, while also offering solidarity to those affected by the conflict.

Anna Antonenko, who left Kyiv for Maldon after Russia's full-scale invasion of her country in 2022, said she was "so happy" about the partnership.

While Yaremche's towering mountains and breathtaking waterfalls offer a different landscape to Burnham, their populations and geographical size are similar.

There were 8,852 people living in Burnham at the time of the 2021 Census, while its twin town had 7,907 residents in 2022.

"It's a really, really attractive town in a way that there is a lot of tourism," Antonenko explained.

"Yaremche is in the western part of Ukraine, it's a bit safer there so you can actually go there if you're brave enough."

She described being grateful for Burnham's support and added: "It was great to see the effort that people did here to make it happen and I'm so happy."

The twinning was confirmed during dual ceremonies in Burnham and Yaremche, both broadcast online to each other.

It was inspired by independent councillor Stratton, who spent six months volunteering for humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.

Burnham mayor Doug Bown said he was looking forward to exchanging ideas with his new partners.

"I take my hat off to Steve for putting this forward and for promoting it," he said.

"We all got behind him as a council, we all unanimously said, 'Yes, we'll go ahead with this'."

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