LEIGH and District Angling Association have spent the week playing host to a visiting French team from Angers.

The friendly fishermen have been twinned for 16 years, with each team visiting the other on alternate years. This year the Angers team were in Leigh and enjoyed a civic welcome in fluent French from the Mayor, Cllr Geoff Roberts, and Mayoress at Leigh Town Hall.

Both teams then fished in a tri-angler tournament with the Izaak Walton club at Taylors Hole in Leigh. Leigh won, with Izaak Walton second and Angers third.

The main competition, for the Steve Meadowcroft Trophy, took place on Saturday at Partridge Lakes in Culcheth. Leigh's team of Ian Cunliffe, Mark Grimshaw, Terry Bilsbury, Sam Pendlebury, Mike Hayes and Derek Buckley beat the French line-up of Simon Roberts (coach), Pascal Gigault, Stephane Ruel, Laurent Renaudier, Nicolas Guilbault, Michel Forget and Fabien Moreau by a margin of nearly four kilos.

The visit ended with a presentation ceremony and dinner enjoyed by both teams at Harts Restaurant in Leigh.