Kendal has been celebrating nearly 20 years of partnership with a town in Ireland as part of St Patrick's Day festivities.

The Mayor, Councillor Julia Dunlop, met with Niall Kelleher, Killarney's Mayor, along with members of the Killarney Town Twinning Association for the St Patrick's Day festival last weekend.

She was invited to sign the visitors’ book along with dignitaries from Pleinfeld, Germany and Casperia, Italy – two of Killarney’s other twin towns.

Councillor Dunlop then watched the St Patrick’s Day parade and attended a reception afterwards.

Following the trip, she said, “We received a very warm welcome and it was a great opportunity to promote civic, cultural, sporting and business links between our two towns.”

The Irish hosts acknowledged the help and advice they have received in the past from Kendal Mountain Festival which has led to them setting up their own Wander Wild Festival.

At the request of the Kendal Rotary Club, Councillor Dunlop met Barry Murphy, President of Killarney Rotary, to help develop a link between the two organisations.

Sean Counihan, former Mayor of Killarney and Chair of Twinning, said: “I’m pleased to welcome our visitors from Kendal, let’s see how we can progress this revival of our twinning arrangements.”

Representatives from Killarney, which is found in County Kerry in south-west Ireland, will be invited to Kendal later in the year to mark the 20th anniversary of the twinning link.

Read more: Kendal and Killarney twinning relationship could end | The Westmorland Gazette

The visit comes after concerns at the start of last year that the relationship between the two towns was 'breaking down' due to Killarney Town Council no longer existing.

Killarney has been twinned with Kendal since 2004 and, with the recent visit and more mutual events planned in the future, work is continuing to preserve that connection.