PENDLE will welcome a delegation of foreign friends when young people from France and Germany arrive as part of a trip organised by the Pendle Twinning Association.

More than 20 visitors from the Continent will join the thousands who throng to Colne during the Bank Holiday Weekend for the annual Rhythm and Blues Festival.

Eighteen adults from Marl, in Germany and five from Creil, in France, will arrive in the UK on Friday and stay with families in the borough before returning home on Monday evening. They will be invited to sample a small piece of Pendle life, which will include Colne's most high profile event.

The Twinning Association will be co-ordinating a project between the visitors and Pendle people on Saturday, August 23, from 2pm, which has also been held in Creil and Marl.

It will involve the construction of a boat out of glass bottles symbolising a desire to unify people of different races and to help people living far apart. Glass was chosen because crystal stands for purity, spiritual perfection and cognition.

The project will take place at the cenotaph in Colne.

Children from Primet High School have been collecting bottles and 10 pupils will help build the boat.

Maria Ashworth, of Pendle Council, who is co-ordinating the visit, said: "We always look forward to welcoming our friends from Creil and Marl. There are plenty of activities planned for them and we hope they will enjoy themselves.

"Many good friendships have been developed over the years and the boat-building project is a good reflection of the strong connections that Pendle has with Creil and Marl."

The visitors will attend the twinning association's annual general meeting on Saturday morning at Pendle Heritage Centre, there will be a walk from Foulridge to Salterforth on Sunday afternoon and a shopping trip to Boundary Mill, Colne, on Monday morning, followed by lunch in Marsden Park, Nelson.