AN AFRICAN mineworker who had never left Namibia in his life arrived in Barnsley for his first foreign holiday this week.

Alex Garosab, 32, works at a copper mine in the northern Namibian town of Tsumeb and had never been on an aeroplane before.

But he finally took to the sky to visit long-time friend Michael Keane, 68, of The Courtyard, Pogmoor.

Alex was joined by his brother-in-law, Johannes Baader, 50, from Mainz in Germany, who met Michael almost 15 years ago through their shared love of scuba diving and travelling the world.

Johannes has visited Barnsley many times but this time was accompanied by his wife's brother Alex.

"They're both great friends and I'm thrilled they've come to see me," said Michael. "Whenever I've visited Alex's town of Tsumeb, it's always reminded me of Barnsley, or at least the way Barnsley used to be.

"They've still got the pit winding gear, and they've even got some railway pit tubs on display in the town, just like we have in Barnsley."

Michael took his friends to see the Oaks Colliery Disaster memorial in town on Monday, and also to the disaster's site and the former Barnsley Main winding gear, as well as trips to York and to Derbyshire's plague village of Eyam.

Alex said he was really pleased to visit Barnsley.

"It's somewhere very different, but the mining history is very interesting," he said.

Alex works at the mine as a drilling supervisor for construction engineering company Basil Read.