YSGOL Dewi Sant head boy Rhys Jones and head girl Ebony Owen are to spearhead a special fact-finding delegation from St Davids to the Royal Village of Matsieng, Lesotho next spring half term.

The visit, which is being organised by the St Davids Matsieng Link group, is planned to strengthen and broaden the link between the two communities which was first set up in 1999, when the Queen Mother of Lesotho paid a week long visit to St Davids.

Since then there have been regular visits to St Davids, especially at St Davidstide by the late Queen’s second son, Prince Seeiso, who until recently was Lesotho’s High Commissioner in London, while here in St Davids the support group has raised substantial sums of money to assist aids orphaned students at Matsieng’s secondary school.

The former St Davids Church in Wales primary school also at one time made links with St Matthews primary school in Matsieng when Mr Raymond Griffiths was head teacher.

The purpose of this new visit, which will be lead by the chairman of the group, St Davids City Councillor Chris Taylor, will be to explore all avenues for strengthening and updating the link, especially with the younger generation. High on the agenda will be visits to Moshoeshoe II High School in Matsieng, and also some of the local primary schools.

Both Rhys and Ebony are keen members of their Young Farmers Clubs, and they also hope to visit local farms in the area, as well as looking at other aspects of the local economy such as manufacturing, administration and tourism

“Our charitable work is very important, and will continue to be a significant part of our role in the future,” Chris Taylor told The Pembrokeshire Herald, “but we want the link to go much further than this. We want to build real links and bonds with our opposite numbers, and there will also be much that they can contribute to us. Twinning if it is to have any long term meaning has to be a two way process, and this is what we are hoping to initiate during this visit.”

Making up the fourth member of the party will be Ysgol Dewi Sant English teacher Eleanor Walker who will help to co-ordinate the school’s involvement in the visit.

The group is receiving considerable practical assistance from Dolen Cymru, the national organisation which co-ordinates links between Wales and Lesotho, and also from Wales Africa Community Links which is generously assisting with the costs of the journey to Lesotho.

“One of the unfortunate things is that we will be travelling back to St Davids on St Davids Day,” said Chris Taylor, “but I hope that we will be able to have an advance celebration before we leave. One thing I do know is that because of Dolen Cymru’s long standing involvement with Lesotho, the locals are very used to, and by all accounts very good at, celebrating our national Saint’s Day!”

It is hoped that Ysgol Bro Dewi will not be left out of the overall twinning with Matsieng, and plans are already afoot for Dolen Cymru to set up a teacher exchange between one of the primary schools there and St Davids.