Berkshire to bond with Barbados

Tropical Speightstown is to be twinned with Reading

The High Commissioner of Barbados is visiting Berkshire to formalise links between Reading and Speightstown.

Representatives from both countries have been working on the twinning for more than two years.

Reading is home to about 3,000 Barbadians, the largest community outside of Barbados itself.

The Berkshire town is also twinned with Dussledorf, Clonmel in Ireland, and San Francisco Libre in Nicaragua.

Diverse community

The twinning agreement with Speightstown is being signed on Tuesday evening at the first full council meeting of 2003.

There has been a Barbados and Friends Association in Reading for 30 years and the group is sponsoring the twinning.

Anderson Connell, chair of the association said: "This should be a momentous occasion for the black and diverse community of Reading.

"But more importantly, this shows that Reading Borough Council is publicly recognising its black and diverse community and their contributions to the local community."

Councillor Tony Jones, chair of Reading's twinning committee said: "I am delighted that we are now in a position to make the twinning with Speightstown official.

"It's now down to us to ensure that this is a success, both in terms of cultural exchanges but also in terms of business development."

Speightstown is on the east side of Barbados, north of Bridgetown, and has a population of about 3,600.