A COUPLE from Worcester, Massachusetts have visited the city to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary in their hometown's English namesake.

Christopher and Alice Charron enjoyed visit to the UK and couldn’t resist a whistle-stop tour of the Faithful City for a few hours on Wednesday afternoon.

After arriving off the train from Manchester, the couple made their first stop at the Worcester News’ office, in Hylton Road, and did an exchange of papers swapping a copy of the American title, the Worcester Mag, with the oldest newspaper in the world, the Berrow’s Worcester Journal.

Asked about their first impressions Mrs Charron, 79, who is originally from Washington, said: “The main bit when you come in off the train is really cool.

“It is amazing, really something.”

Mr Charron, 80, said: “I was born in Massachusetts in 1938, and in 1948 Worcester celebrated its 200th anniversary.

“It used to be a small steel town. It has Clark University which is still very famous. Our Worcester is the ‘Heart of the Commonwealth’ of Massachusetts, geographically stretching from Cape Cod to the New York border.”

The retired couple said they were planning to visit the Cathedral and do a bit of shopping, cramming it all in, in just three hours before getting a train to London.

Mr Charron added: “It’s great to visit here for our anniversary.”

Worcester has had twinning arrangements with the New England city over the years. In the summer students from the University of Massachusetts also visited the Worcester News, meeting staff and enjoying a tour hosted by the paper’s editor Michael Purton.

Worcester Massachusetts, originally named after this city, has a population of around 181,045 and is 45 miles from Boston.

As Worcester is known as the “Heart of the Commonwealth”, it has a heart as its official symbol.

The US city has its own daily paper, the Telegram & Gazette, and television station, WCTR.