LIKE an old married couple, they've been together through thick and thin and are celebrating their 25th anniversary in style.

Swindon and German steel town Salzgitter have been twins for a quarter of a century and to mark the occasion have produced thousands of copies of what could be called their family album.

The book, called Celebrating 30 Years of Friendship, charts the highlights of 25 years of official twinning, as well as the courtship that started between the towns as early as 1966.

Back then Swindon was still a railway town, but one with a wide outlook, and plans to encourage international links with towns like Salzgitter.

Three German teachers came over to Wiltshire in that World Cup winning year and, following further school and youth club exchanges, the two towns developed a relation-ship.

The mayors of the two towns first met in 1969, and in 1972 the towns finally started talking about making their union official.

When the twinning docu-ment was signed in the autumn of 1975, the two towns solemnly declared "that they wish to remain forever in partnership with one another."

"May mutual respect, fellow feeling and understanding be so strengthened by (our) meetings that freedom, tolerance and peace will be forever maintained," the agreement read.

"It is the aim of both communities in this way to contribute towards the unity of Europe, understanding amongst people, and world peace."

Both towns have gone through good and bad times since, with Swindon having to cope with the closure of its railway works and Salzgitter, which was close to the East German border, living with the daily threat of Soviet invasion.

But they also enjoyed many lighter moments, including cultural exchanges, the naming of streets after one another, sporting contests, beer sampling, and holiday house exchanges between up to 50 families a year.

Swindon's twinning group presented town mayor David Cox with a special copy of the anniversary book, which thanks to a UK Millennium Fund grant has also been distributed in booklet form to 32,000 children throughout Swindon and Salzgitter.

Doreen Dart, chairwoman of the Swindon-Salzgitter Twin-ning Association, said: "I'm delighted that this important publication has been produced to celebrate 30 years of celebration between the two towns."