A GERMAN man whose musical daughter was due to take part in the twinning weekend in Devizes had to pay £290 to fly her home after hearing the weekend's youth concert had been cancelled.

Thirteen-year-old Annegret Hoch, a keyboard player with the Waiblingen Youth Band, was on holiday in England with her father days before the twinning weekend when they were told that the musicians from Devizes's twin towns of Waiblingen in Germany and Mayenne in France were not needed.

The Devizes Twinning Association took the decision to cancel the musical concert, due to have taken place in the Corn Exchange on June 2, because they could not find host families for the young musicians.

The association believed that the Queen's golden jubilee weekend and the school half-term this week had conspired against them, as many families had gone away or had other commitments.

Annegret and her father, Manfred Hertl-Hoch, were told on May 28 that the concert was not taking place.

They were holidaying in Weymouth when they got the news.

Herr Hertl-Hoch had arranged to fly home on his own and his daughter was due to travel back with the rest of the Waiblingen musicians.

As a result, Herr Hertl-Hoch had to pay £290 for a flight for his daughter.

He said the management of the twinning weekend was very poor: "My daughter and her colleagues were very excited about coming to Devizes and playing. It was due to be my daughter's first visit to Devizes.

"This is a big disappointment to us all. The twinning weekend should have had the same role as the Queen's golden jubilee."

Dolores Lewis, vice-chairman of the Devizes and District Twinning Association, said association members had spent hours on the telephone trying to find accommodation.

"We feel awful for what has happened," she said. "We have learned a lot of lessons from this and we will start as from now to try to get a list of people on our books to be host families to make sure it will not happen again."