A tour of Jesus' birthplace has been organised for next spring by the Deputy Mayor of West Mersea, Peter Clements.

He had hoped the island would twin but is now hoping to get more support from the people of Colchester.

"She was one of the first Christian visitors to Bethlehem to try and discover something like the Nativity.

"So the fact she founded a church there in the fourth century and continues to feature in our culture is a good link."
Bishop Morgan, who has been to the holy city twice, once in 2006 and once when he was a student, believed the tie-up would benefit the two locations.

"I think it would help to understand a little about the circumstances, pressures and opportunities that Christian people who are almost entirely Palestinian in Bethlehem are facing," he said.

"Hopefully it would give to the Christian people in Bethlehem a sense of partnership and the fact they're not forgotten in various places in the west."

BBC Essex