THE LOVE of books has drawn two communities together from different sides of the world for the last 10 years.

Hay-on-Wye has been twinned with the Mali town of Timbuktu over the last decade due to their shared love of literature- Hay being famous for its abundance of book shops, and Timbuktu for its renowned ancient manuscripts.

Visits have been exchanged between the two towns and support has been provided for through the Hay2Timbuktu charity. Funding has been provided for girls’ education, health clinics and midwife training in Timbuktu. Funds were also raised for a motorbike ambulance.

To celebrate the anniversary the charity aims to raise funds to rebuild toilets at three secondary schools by the end of 2018.

John Winter, Trustee of Hay2Timbuktu said: “It was a huge coup for Hay-on-Wye to be selected as Timbuktu’s twin town back in 2007. We’ve enjoyed a unique and special friendship since then, and hope to do so for many years to come.

“However, life in our twin town has been unimaginably hard recently: first an occupation by armed groups, then continuing shortages and insecurity. Public services have had no investment for many years, and one of the things that schools desperately need is new and refurbished toilets. We hope that the people of Hay and the surrounding areas will dig deep in support of this important project.”

The Headmaster of Yehia Alkaya School, one of the schools that will benefit from new toilets, said: “Our school is 114 years old, but the toilets have never been modernised. They are almost entirely dilapidated. We have tried for years to get support to repair them, but nobody has the money.”

The project will be launched at Hay2Timbuktu’s AGM on Friday starting at 6.30pm at Hay Primary School and is open for anyone to attend.

Anyone wishing to donate to the project can do so by texting TMBK02 followed by the donation sum to 70070 (e.g. TMBK02 £10), visiting hay2timbuktu.org, or in person at Eighteen Rabbit, Lion Street, Hay.