Young visitors from Northern Ireland spent the weekend with Slough's Aik Saath youth group - learning how the town coped with diversity.

The 14 young visitors aged 15 to 19 and two youth workers came from Armagh, Craigavon and Banbridge. They were all involved in youth projects at home and included catholics and protestants working together to put past conflicts behind them.

The Aik Saath charity in Slough was the ideal host as it was originally set up in Slough in response to gang violence between young people from Asian backgrounds. It was a great success and now boasts members of all faiths and races.

Its chief executive Rob Deeks said the visit by the Northern Irish youngsters was a great success.

He said: "Everybody had a wonderful time. We gave them a tour of Slough that included a visit to Herschel Grammar School and a football game at Powerleague in Chalvey which we won 9 - 8.

"We had team building exercises and at the end of it all I think our young Slough hosts were quite proud of their town."

A highlight of the fun was a spray painting session at the Aik Saath headquarters in Church Street on Saturday.

Word was filtering through of the planned vigil due to be held in Slough High Street that afternoon in support of the people of New Zealand following the horrifying massacre in the mosque at Christchurch.

The Northern Irish visitors could not stay for the vigil but they spray painted a Kiwi fern - the flower is endemic in New Zealand - to be taken along to the vigil by Aik Saath.