A SOUTH German town has paid tribute to a Windermere woman who played a key part in forging friendships between the two communities.

Former Windermere Parish Council chairman Coun Jill Hubbard, who died in 2000, was instrumental in forming the Windermere-Diessen Twinning Association and became its first chairman.

During the latest visit to the south German town, Windermere residents were invited to the unveiling of a bench in her memory.

Twinning association member Eve Blatchley, of Bowness, said it was a "memorable and moving" occasion with the bench placed in a park overlooking the lake, close to where a tree stands in commemoration of the twinning links.

"It was a lovely gesture, paid for by their council," she said.

"It was something quite unexpected.

They all remember Jill and it was something they wanted to do."

The ceremony was held during a week of festivities celebrating everything English, with the Windermere group dishing up Cumberland sausage to 120 people for breakfast.

The English Week's theme was 100 years of Peter Rabbit, and a seven-feet tall figure of the Beatrix Potter character stole the show.

Not only did he welcome the Windermere party to Diessen, he visited a Kindergarten, helped children on a hunt for sticky toffee pudding and featured on the front page of the local newspaper, Ammersee Kurier.

Plans are under way to mark the twinning association's fifth anniversary next year when various groups from Diessen, including the Chamber of Trade, town band and school pupils, are expected to head for the heart of the Lake District.

l The Windermere-Diessen Twinning Association is staging a Bavarian Night at the Burnside Hotel, from 8pm, tonight (Friday, November 8) to showcase what it does.

Non-members are welcome.

Admission is £6 on the door.