Town officials from Wareham, Massachusetts welcomed the mayor of Wareham, United Kingdom to town with a reception to celebrate and build a strong relationship between the two towns.

The reception, which was held at Warren's Harborview Restaurant and Marina Monday, Oct. 21, saw town officials gather to welcome as they welcome Warehamites from across the pond and present them with a proclamation officially declaring the two towns as "twinning."

"Twinning" is when two towns make an agreement to promote travel and cultural exchange between one another. Residents of one town will travel to the other and stay with a host family to learn about the town's history and culture while building friendships across the world.

Twinning between the towns began when Wareham, Massachusetts residents Claire and Howie Smith traveled to the United Kingdom where they met the then mayor and now head of Wareham, United Kingdom twinning committee Hilary Goodinge. Goodinge explained Claire had the idea to officially set up twinning between the towns and that is what has landed them in Wareham, Ma.

Wareham Town Mayor Marian Cotton came to visit as a part of the twinning program with her escort Charles Donnelly and former Wareham, former Wareham, United Kingdom mayor Hilary Goodinge and her husband Rich Goodinge and they plan on taking a tour of the South Coast before venturing into Boston.

"I love it, the fall colors are fabulous, the people that I've met have been really welcoming," said Cotton. "Charles and I both said this is some place we would certainly love to live."

On their tour of the South Coast, the mayor and her escort are excited to dive into the history of the area while seeing the must-see sites of Wareham.

"I want to see the cranberry harvest," said Cotton. "When Claire and Howie came across a few years ago they brought some notecards with information about the cranberry harvest on it and that has always fascinated me. I'd like to go to Plymouth for the history and I'd like to get to know the people of Wareham."

Cotton explained this trip means more than just seeing a cranberry harvest and exploring local history.

"We want to build friendships and relationships between the two Warehams," said Cotton. "We look forward to hosting Warehmites hopefully in May of next year."

Claire explained she is very excited to see twinning become a reality and she wants others to see the Wareham across the pond and build relationships with the people there.

"We've become the best of friends with the couple that we stayed with," said Claire. "We're in contact all the time so it's a way to build relationships and new friends and find new places to go."

For anyone looking to get involved with twinning, email the committee at warehamtwinning@yahoo.com.