Swaffham Town Council is sending a civic delegation to Hemmoor, 60 kilometres north-west of Hamburg, from Friday, September 12, to Sunday, September 14, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of twinning links with the German town.

And together with Swaffham Twinning Association, the council has sent a letter to local organisations offering them the chance to be represented on the visit where there will also be an opportunity to meet people from Swaffham's twin French town of Couhé.

Town clerk Richard Bishop said: "This is an excellent opportunity for local groups to establish contact with people of similar interests in Couhé and Hemmoor and maybe arrange to meet in one of the three towns on some future occasion.

"Such a meeting could be for a sporting tournament, such as football, tennis, rugby, judo or swimming, a fishing match, a choral concert, group rambles, cycle races and rides or maybe just a social get-together."

Civic ceremonies will be taking place in Hemmoor over the weekend of the visit to reaffirm the bonds of friendship between the three towns. Civic visits take place every two years to one of the towns in rotation.

Mr Bishop said: "The groups from Swaffham and Couhé have each been limited to 30 people by our German hosts, but every organisation in and around Swaffham is eligible to apply to send a representative, with partner if applicable.

"It is probable that the group from Swaffham will fly from Stansted Airport using Ryanair, with the rest of the journey by coach.

"Each participant will be responsible for his or her own costs, including travel insurance, but travel arrangements will be made on behalf of everyone – and the earlier they can be made the cheaper it will be."

At present, costs for return air travel are about £100 per person. Organisations or groups which would like to be represented are asked to register their interest with Mr Bishop on 01760 722922, or Mr Stan Sole, the twinning association chairman, on 01760 724413, by Friday, May 9, at the latest.