Zabrze
Zabrze is situated in southern Poland, a town with a population of 195,000 located in Silesia Province (Silesian Voivodship). It is mostly a coal-mining area, and shares borders with Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
A co-operation agreement was signed between Rotherham and Zabrze on 19th July 2007 with tha aim of promoting and supporting social, economic and cultural development in the following areas:
- Commerce and industry
- Improvement of municipal and communal administration
- Town planning and development of infrastructure
- Health care and organisation of health services
- Science and education
- Culture, sport and tourism
Since July 2007 there have been reciprocal visits to explore the potential of collaborative projects, and discussions are underway to set up a youth exchange and sporting links.
Zabrze is easy to access due to its close proximity to Katowice and Krakow airports; both are around an hour's drive. Budget flights are available from Doncaster Sheffield airport to Katowice.
Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca is situated in northwestern Romania, in the historic region of Transylvania. It is Romania's third largest city and an important academic, cultural and economic centre, as well as the seat of Cluj county.
During an official visit to Cluj-Napoca in October 2006, partnership agreements were signed between Rotherham and the town of Cluj-Napoca and the Cluj Regional Office Antidrug Prevention. Links have been in place between Rotherham Council's Social Services and Cluj-Napoca for a number of years and it is planned to develop this contact to include a wider range of projects including issues of health, social assistance, education, art, culture, sport and business.
Budget flights are now operating from Luton airport direct to Cluj, making access much easier.
Nashville
The friendship between Rotherham and Nashville began in 2005 when Rotherham became the first place in Europe to host the Athena Awards, an internationally renowned award recognising women leaders in business. As a result, in March 2006 a small delegation from the Council and Rotherham Chamber was invited to attend the International Athena Awards in Nashville.
Rotherham is still the only place in Britain to hold the annual Athena Awards.
During the visit in March 2006, areas for possible collaborative work were explored. It was then that the idea of bringing Dolly Parton's Imagination Library was first discussed. The Imagination Library is a schmem to encourage a love of reading amongst young children by providing free books to every child under the age of 5 in the borough. Dolly Parton came to Rotherham on 5th December 2007 to officially launch the scheme.
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