African leaders drop in to Marlborough (From This Is Wiltshire)

African leaders drop in to Marlborough

7:00am Friday 16th October 2009

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Two civic leaders from Marlborough’s link town of Gunjur in The Gambia in West Africa are arriving tomorrow to spend two weeks taking a look at life in the UK.

Marlborough Brandt Group which is celebrating almost 30 years of links with Gunjur, has arranged the visit of the Alikali (mayor) of Gunjur, Alhagie Sulayman Touray, and the Nyansimba (head of the Gunjur Women’s Organisation), Aja Mai Kebbeh.

It will the first visit to Marlborough by either of the dignitaries who will be accompanied by Mankamang Touray who has visited Marlborough several times before and will be acting as interpreter. Mr Touray trained with TH Whites in Marlborough as an agricultural engineer.

Mayor, Coun Nick Fogg, who became the first Mayor of Marlborough to visit Gunjur 25 years ago when he first held office, will be hosting a civic reception at the town hall next Tuesday.

It’s estimated that more than 1,200 people, the majority of them pupils from St John’s School and Marlborough College, have taken part in the exchange visits between the two countries started by the Marlborough Brandt Group to provide an interchange of ideas and cultures between a rich Western country and a comparatively poor African nation.

Gunjur has a population of 17,500, double that of Marlborough, but is still without electricity and gets its water from wells.

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