After two years work led by the Parish Council and involving an enormous amount of people, groups and organizations, East Peckham twinned with Chereng on 04 June 2012. Chereng lies about 10 minutes from Lille in the beautiful countryside of the Nor de Pas de Calais; it is easily accessible by road.

There are already established links between many local groups with their opposite number in Chereng, among them the East Peckham Silver Band, the French lessons, the East Peckham Scout Group and the East Peckham Primary School.

The East Peckham Silver Band and the Chereng Harmonie has enjoyed a good partnership and they have already performed together including a joint concert in Chereng which was held in April 2012. Another joint concert is due to be held in East Peckham in November 2012. The children at the Primary School are exchanging emails with children at the Primary School in Chereng.

It is hoped that amongst the activities will be a French Market, annual attendance at the
Chereng carnival, exchanges between the boys and girls from the Primary Schools, joint concerts between the East Peckham Silver Band and the Chereng Harmonie and regular visits to enjoy music, sports, art, walks, drama and other joint activities.

In time we hope that visitors will stay in the homes of their hosts and that many good friendships will be made in this way.

French lessons are held in the meeting room at the Jubilee Hall on a Tuesday and Wednesday.

There are three levels of class, beginners, intermediate and advanced. They are fun and the students support each other. For further information please contact Christine McNeir on 01622 871226 or email Christinemcneir@hotmail.co.uk.

On June 4th 2012 as part of the Jubilee celebrations. Peter Street the Chairman of the Parish Council and Pascal Zoute the mayor of Chereng signed the official twinning charter at Holy Trinity Church. The two villages have reached out to one another across the channel and have become neighbours.

The twinning agreement was sealed during the Jubilee weekend and had been two years in the making which has involved the efforts of lots of people in both countries. A contingent of more than 20 people from Chereng were in East Peckham for the historic signing.