By JON CAWLEY
5:17 PM EDT, April 28, 2008
JAMES CITY - The first ever visit by an English delegation from the town of Bideford to their sister-city of Manteo, North Carolina, will end Wednesday after a trip to Jamestown Settlement and Colonial Williamsburg.The group includes Bideford's Mayor, his wife and 17-year-old daughter along with the town's vice mayor and two residents. They arrived in Norfolk on April 23 and have since been meeting their North Carolina contemporaries and seeing the sights of coastal Manteo, just inland from the Outer Banks, said Bryant Brooks, a Dominion Virginia Power spokesman. Brooks said Dominion's involvement stemmed from "wanting to be good corporate citizens" and included trip coordination between the Virginia and North Carolina locales, where the power company has a widespread service area on both sides of the border.Brooks said the trip marked the first official visit to Manteo by a Bideford delegation.
A group of Manteo representatives toured Bideford on a similar trip about 10 years ago, he said.
A historic tie between the two towns extends to the late 1500s when Sir Walter Raleigh sailed from Bideford to Roanoke Island — a site that later became known as the Lost Colony after its inhabitants inexplicably disappeared.
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http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/williamsburg/dp-local_english_0429apr29,0,7165613.story