A GROUP of teenagers from Wear Valley are being sent to a multi-cultural camp in North Germany to mix with other European youngsters.

As part of Crook's town twinning with Bad Oeyenhausen in North Germany four young people from Crook and Bishop Auckland will travel to the North Sea resort of Duhnen on July 25 for a ten day stopover.

The four young people have been challenged to cook a traditional British meal for the whole camp which will include other teenage visitors from Poland, France and Italy.

Dorothy Massey, from the Wear Valley Twinning Association, will be chaperoning the group: "As well as the meals we will cook for one another we will be trying a number of sporting activities.

"The idea is to test out each other's cultures."

Sarah Johnson, 14, from Crook, was chosen to go and is hopeful that she may find romance: "We expect to have fun. We need some ideas for food.

"I thought about just taking a takeaway menu but a massive yorkshire pudding might be a better idea.

I hope there are some good-looking Italian lads there."

Claire Bell, 14, from Bishop Auckland, said: "I do German at school so I'll know some words but there'll still be a lot of confusing sounds that I don't recognise."

Councillor Eddie Murphy, chairman of Wear Valley District Council, said: "The youngsters will be shown a different, much more efficient way of life than the one they know in this country.

"They will also find that the people of Bad Oeyenhausen very friendly as they have been whenever I visited. I hope it will be a very beneficial learning experience for them."

The trip has been paid for from the Durham County Council Community Fund alongside donations from Wear Valley District Council and Willington Town Council.

The teenagers going are: Emma Goble from Maple Close in Sunnybrow; Sarah Johnson from Milton Street in Crook; Claire Bell, 14, from Bishop Auckland; and Kieran Clough, 15, from Hope Street, Crook.