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Wednesday, May 30, 2012 1937 - 2012 · Celebrating 75 Years Orono Weekly Times - 7 Newcastles United by: Christopher W. Brown What do Janupils Latvia, Nyborg Denmark, Akhaltsikhe Georgia, Kota Bharu Malaysia, Shinshiro Japan, Neufchâteau France and Newcastle Ontario all have in common? They all have the same English name - Newcastle. Between July 21st and the 27th, representatives from Newcastles all over the world will come together in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom to talk about one topic, "Newcastles of the world." For the last 14 years representatives from 12 large cities with the name "Newcastle" have come together every two years to discuss topics affecting their cities. It began in the early 1990's when a man from Newcastle upon Tyne came up with the idea to link communities who share the same name. He published a book in early 2000 comprised of photographs and stories of the different Newcastles around the globe. In 1998 the Mayor of Shinshiro Japan invited representatives of seven Newcastles from around the globe to his city. They came to the conclusion that every two years afterwards they would meet to talk about the issues in the communities. Some host communities have included Newcastle Switzerland, Newcastle Indiana, Newcastle South Africa, and Newcastle under Lyme in the United Kingdom. Martha Rutherford-Conrad executive director of the Clarington Museum Archives said "The name for the town of Newcastle came from the District of Newcastle which was a large district that encompassed Durham Region and furthur east." Rutherford-Conrad added, "The District of Newcastle name more than likely came from England, along with the early settlers that were from Newcastle in England." This year the event will take place in Newcastle upon Tyne in the north east part of the United Kingdom. The Chair of the Newcastle upon Tyne Steering Committee is Councillor David Faulkner, who said in a phone interview with the Orono Weekly Times, "Opportunities like this are rare, we know that some cities and municipalities are already sistered or twinned with different cities around the world, but Newcastles of the World The District of Newcastle was organized in 1802, which encompassed Durham Region to Kingston. Newcastle was incorporated into a village in 1856. gives you the opportunity to actually partner with communities with the same name." Faulkner, says of this year's event, "We didn't want to be selective in who we chose to invite. Usually the larger cities are invited and villages like the one in Clarington aren't. We wanted to expand the Newcastles of the World Alliance," he added, "by attending the event, communities will have the opportunity to meet with other communities and promote themselves on a level that they might not have been able to before." He hopes that the week of festivities will be diverse, "We will have a variety of different cultural projects, a business side of the event will also be hosted, and also we will have youth meetings from the different locations to talk about issues affecting them." Faulkner says of the business side, "We are looking at this as an opportunity to increase business and tourism to the different Newcastles around the world. Our hope for the week is to come out with a tourism plan for citizens of all Newcastles. We would like to give the opportunity for people from Newcastle upon Tyne to travel to different Newcastles and receive discounts and perks to traveling to the cities with the same name." The end result would be what he has dubbed `the Newcastles Passport.' "At the end of the week we, as a collective, will also have a directory in the works for all Newcastles across the globe," Faulkner stated. "We would list, Chamber of Commerce contacts, museum contacts, business contacts, and clubs that reside in the Newcastle of that country." Another focal point of the week's events will be the completion of a song." We have asked all those attending to produce a song that will be edited together and compiled as one song." Faulkner added, " The title of the song is `I'm Coming Home Newcastle' and various renditions of the song have already been completed by a school choir from Newcastle upon Tyne, a barbershop quartet from Newcastle, Australia and a gospel choir from Newcastle, South Africa. We want the choice of genre to be representative of the community it comes from." `I'm Coming Home Newcastle', was written and performed by Lindisfarne featuring Busker, a local rock band from the 1970's. The final cultural part of the week will be a selection of videos, photos and poems from the different Newcastles. Faulkner says, "We want to showcase the different Newcastles in a variety of ways, whether it is a poem, a photo, or a video we want to ensure that the different Newcastles have a voice." Ann Harley, a director of the Gift of Art in Newcastle was asked by Clarington's Mayor Adrian Foster to put together Newcastle's presentation. She says, "This will be a terrific opportunity for the community of Newcastle to be seen on a larger scale. We are asking Newcastle residents to take photos of the community. What the town means to them, or what they see as the focal point of Newcastle, are some of the topics that local photographers might want to capture for the presentation that we will present." NEWCASTLE see page 8