The town of Filey, North Yorkshire, England, entered into an accord with Calvert County, Maryland, United States of America on July 3 2004, for the purpose of sharing experiences and knowledge for mutual benefit of the two communities.  In Filey, the ceremony took place in the Crescent Gardens and since then contact has been maintained with a view to furthering cultural links with the people of Calvert County.

With reference to Resolution No. 37 - 06, Calvert County Board of Commissioners

The Filey and Calvert County Accord

The areas of Filey , North Yorkshire, England and Calvert County, Maryland, United States of America, together with their environs, having many aspects in common, wish to formalise their relationship by entering into an Accord to share experiences and knowledge for mutual benefit.

The Accord will provide the opportunity to advance public awareness in each other region regarding the heritage, history and ecology of the partner.

The Accord will facilitate the exchange of information regarding the respective localities, both terrestrial and marine, under the headings including:

Signed contemporaneously on the third day of July in the year two thousand and four.  the 350th  anniversary of the founding of Calvert County.

David F Hale, President , Board of County Commissioners, Calvert County.

Marion Wright, Town Mayor,Filey

The Calvert County Board of Commissioners gave recognition to the importance of this international relationship and on 19 September 2006, the Calvert County Board of Commissioners further confirmed this partnership on the occasion of the first official visit by Filey citizens (members of the Filey Bay Initiative) since the signing of the accord.

The original Accord was signed for Filey by Marion Wright, Town Mayor, Filey and for Calvert County by David F Hale, President, board of Commissioners, Calvert County.

The signing of the Accord in Filey in 2004. Speaking into the microphone is Councillor Ken Leathley, Chairman of the Filey Town Council Cultural Links Committee, with Pam Dobson, Town Clerk standing in the centre and Councillor Marion Wright seated, ready to sign the Accord.		The Filey Bay Initiative's visit to Calvert County 2006 David F Hale. President, Gerald "Jerry" F Clark,  Linda L Kelly, Linda & Tony Green (FBI), Susan Shaw, Wilson H Parran & Jenny Plummer Welker, Rural Planner.

In December 2006, Councillor Ken Leathley said that "This website is important because it will give people a better idea of what it is we're trying to do, and the spin-off eventually will be exchange visits and tourism"  At the moment work is on-going to match up different groups in Filey with their equivalents in Calvert County.  so far, links have been established by Filey School, Filey Museum and Archives, the Lions and Rotary clubs, Filey folk Group, Filey Tourism Association and the Chamber of Trade.

And so has started an agreement that has formalised the friendship and  cooperation between the two communities that has stretched back since the visit to Annapolis by members of the Filey Underwater Research Unit , America and the meetings with the prestigious underwater archaeologist Donald G Shomette.  A friendship that has been borne of a thirty plus year investigation into our joint underwater heritage and encompasses a wide range of other community and educational matters.