RESIDENTS are invited to support a new twinning-style group which meets again tomorrow.

Mayor of Weymouth and Portland Ray Banham set up the Jersey and Weymouth Society (JAWS) this year to build on links with the Channel Islands.

He said anyone interested in joining the group or coming along to the meeting on Friday evening is more than welcome.

Cllr Banham set up JAWS during his mayoral year as he thought a formal link group with the islands was ‘long overdue.’ He said Weymouth had a long association with the islands and believes more work should be done to strengthen the links.

Cllr Banham got the idea when as deputy mayor in November 2012 he was at a ceremony in Weymouth where a plaque was unveiled near the Pavilion to mark a wartime evacuation.

In June 1940, thousands of women and children from Jersey were evacuated to Weymouth to escape Nazi German occupancy.

Weymouth’s relationship with the Channel Islands could be affected if Condor Ferries operates from another port but Cllr Banham said discussions were ongoing to keep the cross-Channel ferry link.

Meetings of JAWS are held on the last Friday of the month with the next on Friday, April 25 at 7.30pm at St John Ambulance hall in Westwey Road.