A tale of Toon cities all aceoss the world; Delegates from Newcastles around the globe plan to get together in the Geordie 'original'.

NEWCASTLES from across the globe are coming together in one city. From Newcastle, Australia, and Neuchatel, Switzerland, to Shinshiro City, Japan, cities who share the Newcastle name will unite for the largest-ever gathering of its kind.

And where better to do it than the "original" Newcastle, our city right here on the Tyne.

Organising the Newcastles of the World project is Coun David Faulkner, leader of the Liberal Democrats at Newcastle City Council.

He hopes to build a lasting legacy of cultural, business and friendship links across the globe.

"There are over a hundred different 'Newcastles' or 'New Castles' around the world, in many different countries and in many different languages," said Coun Faulkner. "We think of ourselves as the first and original Newcastle. Many of the other Newcastles are names after our city, for example in America or former Commonwealth countries were settlers who set up new towns.

"Others have no connection at all - they are just the site of a new castle at some point in history. "But this is a special opportunity to be able to welcome many of them here and to be able to connect with people and groups in many more of the 'Newcastles family' through social media.

"The idea ultimately is to create a network of Newcastles. It is not about just local authorities getting together but about citizens and groups in different Newcastles getting in touch and building contacts."

Around 70 delegates from dozens of countries are already signed up to take part in a conference, from July 21 to 27, while others will take part online.

The conference will include discussions on tourism, branding and marketing, looking towards creating a joint tourism plan for all the Newcastles taking part.

As part of the event there will also be a host of cultural events including photo exhibitions showing snaps of the different Newcastles, a parade through the city with local school children and the unveiling of a friendship garden.

There are also plans to create a Song for Newcastle - based on the St James' Park anthem Home Newcastle by Ronnie "Busker" Lambert - with each city putting forward their take on the song.

And a book of poetry from the different Newcastles will be drawn up. The poets will come together with song performers on July 23 at Newcastle's Live Theatre for a "Night on the Tyne", also featuring musicians, clog dancers and Ouseburn Young Voices, a choir of young people from schools in the east end of Newcastle.

Children from 16 of the city's schools who have been studying a different Newcastle from around the world will be sharing their projects with the visiting delegates, as well as making a welcome pack for them about Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Coun Faulkner said that, despite the huge differences between the different Newcastles - some are tiny towns while others are sprawling metropolises - the organisers found a surprising amount of common ground.

"What we found is that we have similar ideas and concerns, and can share those," he said. "And where there are differences, for example culturally, we can use those to our advantage."

Organiser John Nicolaou, a former Newcastle resident, is the man behind the idea of bringing all the Newcastles together and has been working on the project for many years.

He said: "I'm delighted that Newcastle-upon-Tyne will now be host to many of the towns and cities around the world who take or share our name. Some Newcastles have been meeting since 1998 but more of them than ever before will come here in July."

During the week-long conference delegates will also help to create a proggy or clippy mat depicting different types of castle turrets, with the help of the Woodhorn Matters, and once completed it will be displayed at Newcastle Civic Centre and Newcastle Cathedral before going on to the other Newcastles.

For more information visit www.new-castlesoftheworld.word-press.com, or if you have links to any of the other Newcastles or want to take part, email [e-mail] Which Newcastles are coming to the conference?* Newcastle, South Africa * Neuburg an der Donau, Bavaria, Germany * Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, UK * Shinshiro City, Japan * New Castle, Indiana * Neuchatel, Switzerland * Newcastle, Australia - one of Newcastle's own twin cities * Akhaltsikhe, Georgia * Nove Hrady, Czech Republic * Jaunpils, Latvia * Kota Bharu, Malaysia * Many more smaller Newcastles are also taking part online