MALVERN could soon be twinned with a spa town in the Czech Republic.

The town’s civic society has been in discussion with officials from the town of Marienske Lazne, which is about 30 miles away from Prague.

A party will be heading to the Czech Republic in April, and civic society chairman Roger Sutton is hopeful a formal twinning arrangement will follow soon after.

“Malvern has never had a twin, which is unusual, and it is rather a gap in Malvern’s strategy,” he said. “People have been looking at doing something like this for some time.

“We asked Marienske Lazne if they would be interested in twinning and their response was quite enthusiastic.”

Both Malvern Hills District Council and Malvern Town Council have said they are keen on the idea, and the civic society is now seeking out local groups and schools that would be interested in getting involved in the project.

“We are really just acting as a catalyst, as the key to success with these arrangements is how many local groups are interested in getting involved and making visits,” said Mr Sutton.

“I think having this partnership would offer many obvious benefits for a lot of organisations in the town.”

He continued: “In Europe, twinning is regarded as very important from a cultural point of view, and there are small amounts of funding available from Brussels.

“We are investigating that, although we are still at a very early stage.”