Bury Metro Community Twinning Association exists to foster friendship and understanding of people of different nationalities. The Twinning movement is therefore truly international and is based primarily on links between communities in different countries.

Bury Metro Community Twinning Association is an organisation which is independent of the Local Authority.   Bury Council has no official Twinning Department so most of the Twinning functions are carried out by the Bury Metro Community Twinning Association.

The association was formed in 1978 and took over from the Town Hall Twinning Committee when it was disbanded in 1992 as part of a cost cutting exercise.   Most of the twinning functions (except school exchanges) are now carried out by the Association.

The Association's membership is drawn from all ages and many walks of life in Bury and its surroundings.  It arranges reciprocal visits to Angoulême, Schorndorf, Tulle and Woodbury for adult or family groups.  These sometimes include special interest groups such as musicians, choirs, dramatic societies, police officers, firefighters and nurses.  The group also advises and facilitates other organisations wishing to exchange and importantly, raise the profile of Bury abroad.

The association relies to a very large extent on membership subscriptions and self-help for its finance.

The present subscription is £7.50 for individual membership or £15.00 for a family.
The Association is managed by a committee which meets once a month. Regular meetings for all members, such as wine-tasting's, lectures and social functions take place several times a year; the committee will always be pleased to have suggestions from members about the kind of meetings desired.

The main work of the Association has been in the sphere of visits to and from our twin towns. Members stay with families in their homes for four or five days; similar hospitality is given to foreign guests coming here. The only cost involved when going on these trips is that of travel and accommodation en route. There is no need to reciprocate although it is hoped that members would be prepared to host whenever possible. These visits have become highly successful over the years .