WALLINGFORD has received a flurry of twinning offers from French towns after it attempted to severe links with its European partner.

Former mayor Alec Hayton tried to end Wallingford’s 30-year link with Luxeil-les-Bains after repeated attempts to contact civic leaders fell on deaf ears.

But since the furore over the towns’ relationship erupted, Mr Hayton has received offers from four French towns wanting to be twinned with Wallingford.

La Chapelle-Saint Mesmin, a small community south west of Orleans, Elbeuf, an industrial town south west of Rouen, a small town west of Angers called Beaucouzé, and Villecresnes, a town south-east of Paris, are all vying for the market town’s affections.

Mr Hayton said: “It’s very interesting, it’s quite exciting, but nothing will be done for some time. It needs a lot of consideration by the town council and the twinning committee.

“But we have got to give Luxeuil a try. We just haven’t decided on what course of action to take yet.”

This week, the town in eastern France claimed to have invited councillors to a civic celebration eight months ago.

It confirmed it had emailed Mr Hayton on September 10 and had written to Wallingford Town Council at the start of that month, inviting them to an event in October.

The council and Mr Hayton denied ever receiving the correspondence.

Mr Hayton said: “They claim they sent me an email inviting me to something in October, but they sent it to an email address I dumped a year ago.

“They also said they sent an invitation to the town council offices, but I’ve checked with the town council and they have no record of it.

“I’m going to write back and explain this. We have not received either the email or the letter.

“I’m sure they sent the letter and email, one has to believe them.”

Wallingford town clerk Andrew Rogers said: “We had nothing from them.

“As far as I know the post service is reliable. There is no reason why a letter shouldn’t have turned up.

“Twinning doesn’t seem to figure highly on their list of priorities. Why haven’t they communicated with us since all this blew up? We’ve not heard anything from them.

“I would have thought with the onus being on the French town to show that they are still interested in the twinning, they might have communicated at least by email.

“We’re not going to push them, but we’re not going to fall over ourselves to make sure they do respond.”

Earlier this month, the French town’s deputy mayor Fabienne Deloulsaid 2009 would be a year for getting back in touch with Wallingford.

Mr Hayton appealed for new members to revive Wallingford’s dwindling twinning committee. Anyone interested can contact him via the town council on 01491 835373.