BESANÇON is in Eastern France, 60km or about 38 miles from the Swiss border.

It has a population of 122,000, including 20,000 students at the University of Franche Comté.

A French national opinion poll rates it as one of the best places in France to live and it is at the centre of European watchmaking, spectacle making and micro-technology.

Community links between Huddersfield and Besançon include choirs, football teams, the Junior Chamber Of Commerce, various French circles, Philatelic Society and the Post Office Twinning Group.