Twinning Agreement
Our twinning agreement with Voreifel Lions was initiated by Egon Gogel who was a member and President of Billericay Lions 1988 – 1989 while working for Ford Motor Company at Dunton.
Egon, on retirement and returning to his native Germany, proposed a twinning agreement between his old club Billericay Lions and his new club Voreifel Lions.
This twinning agreement was signed by members of both clubs on 29th April 1989.
Since 1989 there have been many visits (including partners) between the clubs. Get togethers are also arranged in other locations. Recent visits include Ghent, Amsterdam, Bruges, Epernay, Boulogne.
Both clubs were keen to add a joint community service project to strengthen the twinning and after much research, in October 1992, we held our first International Disability Swimming Gala at Basildon pool.
Subsequently, swimming galas have been held every other year, hosted sequentially by Billericay Lions, Voreifel Lions and Brussels Royale Lions.
Our 15th International Disability Swimming Gala will be held in Brussels and we will be taking a large team of enthusiastic team of swimmers with disabilities from Runnymede Swimming Club.