I READ with interest the suggestion by Cllr Michael Griffiths that Bournemouth should be twinned with Liverpool – an excellent idea! (Daily Echo, July 16) For years I had the wrong idea about the city of Liverpool because like many folk, I had never been there and my conception was based purely on hearsay!

And then my son, a Salvation Army officer, was appointed to the Salvation Army divisional headquarters of that city, and I became a frequent visitor.

Now I consider Liverpool, 2008 European City of Culture, to be one of the finest in the UK.

Its libraries, art galleries, university, museums, theatres, concert halls, Catholic and Anglican cathedrals, exhibitions and shopping centres are second to none.

And the residents are smartly dressed, good conversationalists and so different from my image of these wonderful folk before I visited Liverpool for myself.

I once remarked how my ideas of Liverpool had changed since seeing for myself.

A lady replied “Yes that’s because we send many of our awkward characters down to you and you judge us accordingly”!

PHIL CAREY, Belle Vue Road, Southbourne