VILLAGERS in Avebury have taken the first steps towards a possible formal twinning arrangement with a town in Malta.

About 30 villagers attended a meeting in the Social Centre on Tuesday evening attended by the High Commissioner for Malta, Dr George Bonello Du Puis.

At the end of the meeting a show of hands demonstrated that about three quarters of those present wanted to see Avebury twinned with the Maltese community of Tarxien (pronounced Tar-shin).

Parish council chairman Jenny Baldrey said a small committee of about half a dozen villagers committed to the twinning proposal would take the idea forward.

The initial suggestion was made to the village by John Feene who works for Wiltshire County Council and whose brother Vincent is the British High Commissioner in Malta.

The meeting heard that Tarxien has a population of about 8,000 and was looking for a British community to twin with.

Malta is one of the ten new accession countries to have recently signed up to the European Union and a number of twinning links with communities in the UK are being explored.

Tarxien, like other places in Malta, is famous for its ancient temple sites.

Melanie Pomeroy-Kellinger, an archaeologist and implementation officer for the Avebury management plan, spoke of the similarities between the two communities and their ancient monuments.

But first Dr Du Puis spoke passionately of the long links between Britain and his strategically placed Mediterranean island that was awarded the George Cross after it withstood some of the heaviest aerial bombardments of the Second World War.

The high commissioner said Malta had a number of ancient temple sites, a thousand years older than Avebury or Stonehenge. Among the most famous was the Tarxien temple complex with its famous Hypogeum or inner temple that was, he said, one of the wonders of the world.

Dr Du Puis confessed that he had never heard of Avebury until the twinning idea was sown and he had been amazed at the similarities between the two communities.

He said: "It is just and fair that Tarxien be paired with Avebury."

John Feene, a community planner at County Hall, said his brother, the British high commissioner in Malta, had suggested that twinning links could be set up between Avebury and a Maltese community.

Both Avebury and Tarxien, said Mr Feene, were World Heritage Sites and he said a major advantage of twinning with a Maltese community was that the islanders spoke English as well as their own language.

Mr Feene listed the benefits for the two communities that are about 2,000 miles apart:

The educational advantages of school and youth group exchanges

Involving the whole community and leading to the building up of individual and family friendships

Exchanges for clubs and societies

An interchange of arts, music and heritage and tourism ideas

Civic links between the Maltese community with the parish councils in the Avebury area, district and county councils.

Mr Feene said: "If there is enough support for the idea here, then a group could be set up to take this forward."

Melanie Pomeroy-Kellinger spoke of the possibility of opening up archaeological links between the two communities.

In response to reservations expressed by former parish council chairman John Cronk, Mr Feene said very little cash would come from the local authorities and there was funding available from the EU for this kind of link.