Letham and District Twinning Association
Twinned with Monasterboice, Eire
LETHAM, the largest village in the Scottish county of Angus, has been officially twinned since the year 2000 with the rural district of Monasterboice, County Louth, in the Republic of Ireland. There is an ancient connection between our two areas which goes back to the visit of the Irish abbot Buite, or Boyce, to the Pictish king Nechtan the Great at his stronghold of Dunnichen about 1500 years ago. It is recorded that Abbot Buite prayed over the dead body of the king and he was raised to life. In gratitude for the miracle, King Nechtan granted land to the abbot to build a church at Kirkbuddo (church of Buite) and on his return to Ireland, Buite founded the great monastery of Monasterboice. Preparations to celebrate the Millennium seemed a good time to revive a contact between our two communities.
A group from Letham visited Monasterboice in 1998, and a return visit to Letham took place the following year. Then in September 2000, a deputation from Letham went to Monasterboice to sign the twinning charter and take part in the unveiling of Monasterboice's Millennium monument, which also commemorates the twinning of the two communities. Letham's Millennium Cross , appropriately situated at Crosston, on the outskirts of Letham - was unveiled on 7th December, which is St Buite's Day. An event was held at Monasterboice's millennium monument that same night. In both locations, amid the celebrations and formalities, prayers were said for peace in Ireland. The Millennium Cross was unveiled by the Doherty twins of Letham, born on 1st January 2000, who were the first babies born in Scotland that year. Letham Primary School choir sang the European anthem, and two pupils buried time capsules from Letham and Monasterboice. The inscription on the cross celebrates our twinning with Monasterboice, and marks 1500 years of shared Christian heritage.
Angus Council kindly agreed to erect four road signs on the approaches to Letham, reading, Twinned with Monasterboice, Ireland, and these were in place in good time for our Irish visitors to admire them. Not to be outdone, similar signs were erected in Monasterboice, in both English and Irish Gaelic. (The name Letham was rendered in Gaelic as Balintoul - hamlet of the barns.) We always invite local dignitaries to our events, but the emphasis is very much on the participation of the ordinary citizens of both twinned communities, as well as establishing links between various community groups in Letham and their opposite numbers across the Irish Sea.
Another project to cement relations and raise some funds is a lapel badge featuring the Kirkbuddo Cross. Though the stone is unlikely to date all the way back to St Buite's time, it is certainly a very early Pictish Cross found on the site of his church and now displayed in the Meffan Museum in Forfar. We hope that people in both communities will wear this lapel badge as a sign of the links between us.
A consignment of arts and crafts produced by various folk in Letham featured in a craft exhibition at Monasterboice Credit Union and this has been reciprocated by Monasterboice craft workers displaying at craft fairs in Letham. Exploratory links between Letham Primary School and St Buite's School, Monasterboice, have now been established, and a pen-pal link between local Guide troops. There is scope for further such exchanges, and also business and tourism links.
The Monasterboice Desk in Letham Library displays information and artefacts from Monasterboice, including a copy of the new Encyclopaedia of Ireland.