As far back as September 1974 the  Headteacher of South Wolds School, Mr Colin Cawthorn, who was also a member of the Keyworth Parish Council (PC), reported to the Publicity Committee that there was a suggestion of twinning of the Keyworth schools with France and Germany. Earlier enquiries made by the Keyworth PC had led to the view that twinning it would be too expensive for the village to undertake. However Mr Cawthorn was asked to contact Notts C.C Education Department and to write to the Joint Twinning Committee of the Local Authorities Association of Gt. Britain (JTC). If a suitable school was found and if the town in question was considered to be comparable to Keyworth, the matter could be looked into further.

During 1975 Calverton was contacted, since it was known to have already twinned, and they sent a delegation to Keyworth to show slides  and discuss details. They enthusiastically encouraged Keyworth to twin. Throughout that year letters were exchanged between Keyworth and the JTC, with South Wolds School involved through Mr Frank Hanford,  a language teacher there and also a member of the Keyworth PC. In March 1976 a questionnaire was returned for a town in Belgium which was later deemed unsuitable. In  July a copy of The Village Guide was sent to the JTC. During this time Feignies had contacted the latter organisation requesting to twin. In October details of  three towns were sent to Keyworth but all were discarded on the grounds of size or distance. Early in December, however, details of a small town in France called Feignies, situated near the Brussels to Paris road were received and the Clerk to the Council was requested to respond to the JTC stating an interest. 

By the 1977 January meeting of the Keyworth PC, chaired by John Price, a communication from the JTC had been received assuring the PC of their attention regarding the suggested twinning with Feignies. Further information arrived and in February the Publicity Committee of the PC wrote to Feignies (in French!) showing an interest. By the April meeting Feignies had replied with enthusiasm and recommended early exchanges. In May the Deputy Clerk to the PC was requested to write to each local organisation in Keyworth with a proposal to twin, and a proposed liason with Feignies,  suggesting to  all interested parties that a public meeting be  arranged  in the autumn. 

Before this could take place Feignies suggested, much to everyone’s surprise,  that a delegation to see Keyworth would like to arrive for the weekend of 20-22nd June. English hospitality to the French had to go into gear much more quickly than anticipated, with accommodation in homes having to be found. This delegation was headed by M. Jean Jarosz, then Deputy Mayor of Feignies, who there and then declared that ‘this is the place’.  Not to be outdone, the Clerk to the PC, Derek Twiss, decided to call and look at Feignies and meet again with the Feignies council and M. Jarosz en route to his continental holiday in August. Following this, on the weekend of  9-11th September a Keyworth PC delegation went to Feignies  and on the 25th the Inaugural Meeting between Keyworth PC and Feignies Municipal Council took place in Feignies and the official Twinning Document was signed. The signatories were C. Cawthorn, Chairman of Keyworth PC; B Coyne, Vice-Chairman of Keyworth PC; D. Twiss, Clerk to the Keyworth PC; J Jarosz, Député du Nord, Maire de Feignies; R Latouche, Premier Adjoint Maire de Feignies; and H Prévost, Secretaire Général de la Mairie de Feignies. Also attending were M. Le Préfet du Departement du Nord, representing the French government and The British Vice-Consul in Lille, representing the British government.

On 3rd November 1977 a public meeting in Keyworth resolved that a Twinning Association should be formed and the Keyworth & District Twinning Association,or KANDTA as it is known to its members, was born. Harry Hyman was appointed as the first Chairman and the Chairman of the Keyworth PC as President. The latter position was written into the constitution and has remained so ever since. Members of  organisations and members of the public were invited to join, with the fee at that time fixed at 25p, children free. This year it stands at £5 and children are still free. Spring of 1978 saw the Feignies delegation arrive once again to sign the Treaty of Twinning and they presented the ‘Dove of Peace’. The first edition of Twinning News appeared and was delivered to every household in Keyworth, paid for by its advertisers.

During that year exchange visits really took off between schools and organisations. The first visit was by the schoolchildren of Feignies, in the Easter holidays, staying with families of  pupils of S. Wolds School and mid-August saw a return of their host’s children to Feignies. In  May of that year, the British Legion, Keyworth branch, went over for a weekend visit. The Keyworth public saw  twinning in action for the first time when the Mayor of Feignies came over to open the Keyworth Show. A weekend in early September the Harmonie de Feignies came to Keyworth and the first anniversary of KANDTA was celebrated in Feignies with the S.Wolds School Band participating in the entertainment. To round off this first year of exchanges Stanton Golf Club visited Feignies in October. 

Over the following years other organisations from both localities became involved. Two rugby teams from the nearby town of Maubeuge arriving for the opening of the Platt Lane Sports site in April 1979. This connection has carried on ever since. In the eighties the Keyworth Choir started exchanging with its counterpart in Feignies and this also is ongoing. Later the Tennis Club started exchanges with matches being played at the official ‘twinning weekends’. Eventually in 1982 a party from Keyworth Junior School, as it was then, spent a week in Feignies with 46 children and 5 staff, including the Headteacher John Hartley. 

The entertainment provided for these ‘weekends’ could have  become competitive but KANDTA realised quite early on that we could not compete financially with Feignies. In 1980 Feignies hired the Military Band of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, and in 1987, to celebrate 10 years of twinning, The National Orchestra of Lille, followed the next evening by an enormous and lengthy firework display. On the 2nd anniversary we had a Cavalcade of Floats in Keyworth, aptly named ‘The French Connection’. Never daunted, for the 10th Anniversary, April  1987, we enjoyed a Medieval Banquet in Keyworth,, cooking the food ourselves, using a marquee, hayboxes (to collect the hot food from homes across Keyworth) and manpower kindly provided by the Territorial Army along with professional Avalon Entertainers. Of course, our visitors had to dress in attire appropriate for the occasion and  we all ate with our fingers!

The exchange of gifts has been at the centre of the official Ceremonies each year. Some of those from Feignies are on display in the Village Hall; others, like the fountain and street lamp, can be found in various locations around Keyworth. Over the years we have presented a model of the Parish Church, Memorial Gates and a British Red Telephone Box to name but a few, with our latest gift for the 25th Anniversary being 25 English oak trees. Major gifts are now only exchanged every five years, but personal gifts are exchanged each year between the Chairman of the PC and Mayor of Feignies and between Chairs of both Twinning Associations.

Many friendships have blossomed, some into deeper relationships. After meeting on school visits three Keyworth girls have married boys from Feignies. Feignies has the rue de Keyworth, the Café de Keyworth and the Robin Hood Fountain. Keyworth has Feignies Court.

The “raison d’être” of KANDTA, to foster and promote increasingly closer ties between the residents of  Feignies and Keyworth and District, has been amply fulfilled over the past 25 years.