TEAMS from Dorchester and Germany may play each other in a sporting extravaganza to strengthen twinning links.

The youth games are being lined up for May next year after talks held when dignitaries from Dorchester's twin town of Lubbecke visited.

Mayor Molly Rennie urged teams and families to join in the event after hosting a reception to celebrate 30 years of twinning between the towns.

She said: "We really want people to join in.

"We are part of Europe and have been twinned with Lubbecke for 30 years now. Unless we get young people involved in twinning the partnership is going to die.

"The links established now will run into participants' adulthood."

Dorchester Town Youth Football Club and the town's tennis and squash club were among the organisations backing the idea.

Football and tennis are pencilled in for the festival with cross-country running and trampolining among the other sports suggested for youngsters aged eight to 19.

The meeting was held during a two-day visit to Dorchester by a delegation from Lubbecke which included their sports co-ordinator Reinhard Vollhey and swimming organiser Claus Buschmann.

The Durnovaria Silver Band and the Lubbecke Band played together at a reception at the Corn Exchange to mark the 30th anniversary of the twin towns. German mayor Gerhard Bosch presented Coun Rennie with a piece of cut glass at the ceremony on August 6 before the party left the next morning.

Coun Rennie said: "They had a wonderful time. "We took them around Poundbury and they seemed very interested."

The visit also included a concert in the Borough Gardens and a tour of the Thomas Hardye Leisure Centre and some went on a trip to Athelhampton.

Anyone interested in signing up to a database of young people and organisations interested in twinning links is urged to call Sarah Hawthorne at West Dorset District Council.

Coun Rennie also wants teams who want to join in the games to write to her at Dorchester Town Council, North Square, Dorchester.