THE Lord Mayor of Oxford will soon embark on a trip across Europe and wants residents' to give him letters of goodwill to pass on to the city's European twin towns.

Craig Simmons will take a train journey across Europe between February 26 and March 3 to visit Oxford's twin cities with messages of friendship and co-operation for the future.

As part of his commitment to a year of low-carbon initiatives, Mr Simmons will make the journey by train to the Leiden in the Netherlands, Bonn in Germany and Wroclaw in Poland.

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Mr Simmons said: "Oxford is an international city in reputation, communities and culture, and we want to continue that in the future. These visits are a demonstration of our commitment to those ties we have in Europe.

"I would like to carry messages of friendship not just from the council but from the people of Oxford as well. If any residents have a particular message of friendship or are looking to build links for their organisation in these cities I would be delighted to share them.

"We've enjoyed cultural exchanges as well as exchange of knowledge and expertise with our twin cities, and my message is that we value that more than ever as we leave the EU and build a new international status."

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The visits were originally planned for 2019 but were delayed until after Brexit to focus on long-term relationships between Oxford and its EU twin cities.

The mayor is asking any residents who would like to share short messages of support or to build links for their organisations with the twin cities to send their message to civicoffice@oxford.gov.uk

Later this year Oxford will host a celebration event for all twin city links, #WeAreOxford Twin Cities, which will focus on building and strengthening Oxford's international links for cultural, community and business benefit.