AN unlikely twinning link between the former thriving cotton mill town of Bacup and the highly sought after Utah city of St George has been cemented in stone.

The sister cities, as twin-towns are known in the States, became connected nearly two years ago thanks to teacher Connie Boyle who owns a house in the town and fell in love with its historic architecture.

Connie has lived in Wokingham, Berkshire, for nine years but has previously lived in St George.

When she began researching Bacup and St George she found they both had roots in the cotton industry and she set about establishing a permanent link.

Now she is seeing the link come to life with the visit of a party of 14 students and lecturers from the Traditional Building Skills Institute at Snow College. They were in the town to restore a stone seating area near to the market which had been vandalised.

And using traditional techniques -- and imported lime from France -- they have painstakingly pieced together the structure.

Connie said: "We have been establishing twinning links and our goal is to help Bacup rejuvenate itself. We wanted to start off with a small project and the students will also be assessing other potential projects they may undertake in the future."

Russ Mendenhall, executive director of the Traditional Building Skills Institute, John Lambert, a historian in masonry restoration and Bill Western, an architect from St George, led the project.

They loved the buildings in the town and all spoke of how much they admired the architecture and the history.

John said: "History tells us what happened, historical buildings tell us it happened here. All of the students wh

have come over for this project have paid their own fares. They have enjoyed the experience of the culture and the architecture.

Host families in the Bacup area provided accommodation for the visitors and they also had a reception at the town hall in Rawtenstall when Mayor of Rossendale Coun Jimmy Grogan explained the civic history and showed the borough's regalia.

The Utah visitors presented three flags which had been flown at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, a Union flag, the American stars and stripes and Germany's flag -- to mark Rossendale's twin Bocholt.

Connie said: "We are already working on other groups coming over in May and June and we are going to have projects which will involve working with young people."