Husband and wife David and Nadia Conway are doing their bit to restore Czech Jewish heritage.

The couple, who live in Enfield, North London, have bought and restored a historic 15th-century house in the East Slovakia's Levoca - the town where Mrs Conway was born - and are now involved in the restoration of a Jewish cemetery there.

They have also initiated an international music festival in the town. It will take place during Rosh Hashanah.

Mrs Conway, 58, the former Mayor of Enfield, tells People: "This is a really exciting development, which will establish one of central Europe's leading music festivals and enhance the prestige of this region, introducing it to visitors all over Europe."

The Conways hope it will become an annual event, strengthening the nearby city of Prešov's bid to be the 2013 European City of Culture. Mr Conway, 58, says it was in 1974, when first visiting Levoca, that he was encouraged to discover the Jewish significance of the area. "Dilapidated as it was, here was a jewel underneath decades and centuries of neglect." There are Jewish cemeteries in the towns of Poprad and Kežmarok, and a Jewish museum in Spišské Podhradie.

The festival starts tomorrow .

www.lblfestival.eu