A DOZEN youth leaders from South Africa will be arriving in North Yorkshire this week as part of a link between the dioceses of York and Cape Town.

The group, most of them in their teens and 20s, will be visiting from tomorrow until February 17.

The diocese of Cape Town includes the city and the wine-growing country around Stellenbosch, as well as the west coast of the Republic of South Africa.

The visitors will stay initially with church members in the York diocese, which extends from the Tees and the Humber to the A1 in the west.

They will also be spending time at the diocesan retreat and conference centre at Wydale Hall, between Pickering and Scarborough.

They will also visit Bishopthorpe Palace for a lunch hosted by the Archbishop of York, Dr David Hope, on February 7.

The chairman of the York side of the link group, the Reverend Paul Wordsworth, said: "This visit is a major step in developing our friendship with the diocese of Cape Town.

"We had always hoped to build up links between young people, and now we will have the opportunity to forge some real personal friendships.

"I just hope our visitors will have taken our warnings about the February weather seriously."