SEDBERGH folk are "doing a bit of courting" on the world wide web as they search for their ideal twin town.

Butcher and chamber of trade member Garth Steadman said efforts were being made to twin Sedbergh with a town in the Low Countries, preferably some-where with a musical attach-ment, as Sed-bergh had its own town band, and Sedbergh School was strong on music.

The chamber of trade's twinning sub-committee is not looking towards France, explained Mr Steadman, because French people did not visit the area "in any volume".

Instead, efforts are focusing on the Low Countries, including the Netherlands.

"The reason for the Low Countries is accessibility for tourists," he said.

"We want to market Sedbergh.

The Dutch like our hills in the Dales - we get quite a lot of Dutch visitors."

Mr Steadman said there was a great deal of information about twinning to be found on the Internet, and there was also European money available to help with aspects of twinning links.

He said there was even an Internet "dating agency" for towns hoping to find twins, but there was nothing suitable on the site, so it was up to Sedbergh to approach other towns by "doing a bit of courting".

Mr Steadman said the twinning group was "trying to drum up enthusiasm" among Sedbergh residents for the twinning.

"We are really looking forward to getting there."