ON Monday, April 27 the King of the Netherlands celebrated his birthday with his family in Dokkum, a town Crediton has a strong relationship with along with Fulda in Germany thanks to St Boniface.

As part of their national day of celebrations the Mayor of Crediton, Cllr Steve Huxtable, was invited to attend and kicked off the start of the celebrations with the Mayor of Fulda.

Cllr Huxtable said: “Dokkum really embrace both Crediton and Fulda's friendship and to celebrate the occasion with us they asked if we would bring a child from the town who would be presenting flowers to one of the royal princesses.”

Ollie Sims, 10, from Crediton has the honour of representing Crediton and said: “I feel very excited about my trip to the Netherlands. I am very lucky to have been chosen to go to celebrate the King’s birthday in Dokkum.

“I hope I see Virgil van Dijk”.

Virgil is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for and captains both Premier League Club Liverpool and the Netherlands national team.

Crediton-born Winfrith (or Wynfrith), who became Saint Boniface, is the Patron Saint of Devon following a vote by Devon County Council in 2019 and Patron Saint of Crediton, following previous approval by Crediton Town Council.

Boniface is highly regarded for his missionary work in Germany, the Netherlands and across the German parts of the Frankish empire.

St Boniface grew to become a major figure in the Roman Catholic Church and continues to be celebrated today as the “Apostle to the Germans” and the first archbishop of Mainz.

The National Shrine to Crediton's most famous son is in the Roman Catholic Church in Park Road, Crediton.

Hopefully images of the visit will be available shortly and upon their return we'll find out if Ollie got to see Virgil van Dijk.