This scroll, which dates from the 80s, was produced to consolidate the "twinning" of Falkirk in Scotland with Creteil in France.
To this day, I am not absolutely certain of its meaning - I just wrote out the words

caliken

You have such a beautiful hand, cailken. It is a pleasure to see.

Hello Ken,

don't worry, the content of the this announcement does not compromises you and the visual form you gave it is very beautiful. I can imagine that it looks very impressive in real as it is probably much bigger and thus also more weighty.

Still I do have one quibble which I cannot help voicing: I find my eyes constantly drawn to the little chain ornament - which undoubtedly was meant to be there as a sign of the unity of the two districts - to determine what exactly the ornament is. I think that if done in more flourish-like manner - perhaps á la the flowers in the illuminated "E" - the ornament would stand in lesser contrast to the writing and in fact the rest of the document.

But again these are just my immediate thoughts when looking at the scan which may be very deceiving... Regards, Zed

Very nice, as always.

With what did you write "CRETIL-FALKIRK DISTRICT?"

"In this bicentennial anniversary of the French Revolution, the Twinning Committee of the Falkirk District is pleased to present its Best Wishes for the international gathering of all the young of your twin cities. The Twinning Committee assures you of its solidarity to the Fraternity between the people and the reconciliation among all men."

...is what an apathetic student that has taken high school French would make of it.

Thanks, Zed
I'm not particularly enamoured with the chain link device which, as you rightly deduced, is meant to symbolise the unity of the two towns. I remember being given the symbol artwork to be incorporated as it was, apparently, of some special significance. I was also told where it was to be situated on the document - I agree that it looks a bit out-of-place.

caliken

Thanks for the translation, Renzhe!

It's too long ago to be absolutely certain, but I'm fairly sure that the main haedings were written in gouache with Mitchell round-hand, square-edged nibs, with the main text (black) written with an Osmiroid pen.

caliken

Wonderful! Perfect job, Ken.

Anyway, what is the hand? The headlines look like being inspired by uncial script and the text itself like some sort of italic, but not quite so. Is this some canonic script, or any of your own modifications?

Thanks, SquelchB
They are my own variations - uncial influenced headings and the main text a sloping form of basic foundation script.

caliken