A WELLINGTON councillor is taking a crash course in German so he can represent the town on a twinning visit.

Town Cllr Stephen Mercer wants to deliver a speech to his hosts as a courtesy in their own tongue.

But he has just weeks to learn the language before visiting Wellington’s twin town of Immenstadt in September.

Cllr Mercer sits on Wellington Twinning Association and has been asked by its German counterparts to introduce himself and make a brief speech.

He said: “I will have it all written out and I have a couple of German speakers who are going to take me through and tell me where the inflexions are and things like that.”

Cllr Mercer performed a similar linguistic feat when serving on a parish council in Devon he delivered a speech in French for a Normandy twinning visit.

He said: “It was well received and they appreciated the effort.”