DESPITE the sudden drop in temperature, there was a warm welcome at Locomotion for Bonniface Sagbohan and Olga Kokode from Councillor Marie Predki, the Mayor of Sedgefield Borough.
THE cold was soon forgotten when two visitors to the region enjoyed their first sight of snow.
When TV journalist Olga and media consultant Bonniface left their home in sunny Benin, West Africa, on Monday, the temperature was a pleasant 92F.
But they had no complaints abut the dramatic drop to freezing North-East conditions when they arrived in County Durham as guests of Newton Aycliffe Round Table on a Rotary Study Group exchange.
Benin - which is bordered to the north by Niger, to the west by Togo, and to the north-west by Burkina Faso - has never experienced snow and the couple had only seen it on television.
They struggled to find words to describe their first snowman when they toured Locomotion: the National Railway Museum at Shildon yesterday.
Olga said: "It's a dream come true and I can't wait to tell my family and friends about it."
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