Locals turned out to join in the fun as the festival buzzed with live music and stalls. The Gazette team represented the borough and reporter Louisa Felton signed the ledger to historically record the event, alongside mayors from other countries. We have taken a look into the history of the tradition.

Modern town twinning arrangements developed mainly after the Second World War, to promote mutual understanding.

A very early example is recorded in 1947 in Bristol when August Closs, the then head of German at Bristol University, pushed to twin the city with Hanover in Germany to build bridges of friendship after the war.

The practice is followed all over the world and within Europe it has been supported by the European Union since 1989.

Dacorum Borough Council was twinned with Neu-Isenburg in 1975.

The German town was founded in 1699 as a refuge for 30 French refugees who were given permission to settle there by the reigning sovereign Jean Philip von Isenburg-Budingen.

It was named Philippsdorf, but only for the first 75 years of its existence.

The French settlement laid the foundations for what would later become Neu-Isenburg - in 1702 the first town hall was built, followed by the first school in 1704.

The first Germans did not settle in the town until 1714 and German only became the official language in 1829.

On August 21, 1894, Neu-Isenburg was granted civic rights and the town received its coat of arms on its 200th anniversary in 1899.

One hundred years ago, the town's population was just 6,000 but by 2005 it had swelled to more than 35,400.

See next week's Gazette for pictures of the event.