A couple of weeks ago,our snippets from 100 years ago reported that a man shot at five stoats and killed four of them with one shot. That prompted a tongue-in-cheek email from Hellifield’s Andy Holden, who pondered: “Perhaps this was when a new species, Lone Stoat, originated?” Andy, of course, was one of the finalists in the 2013 Countryfile Calendar competition, with a picture called Lone Stoat. He was featured on Sunday’s programme, promoting the 2014 calendar.

* The countdown is on to Langcliffe Village Show – and institute chairman Eric Parker is taking no chances. As keen gardeners anxiously watch the progress of their fruit, vegetables and flowers, Mr Parker has been captured on camera, having stern words with one of Langcliffe pests! The event takes place on Saturday, August 17 – and it seems the village takes the preparations very seriously.

* Skipton town centre had an unusual addition - a pop up living room, complete with sofa. An outside living room including a sofa made of grass was set up in Skipton town centre recently. It was aimed at promoting Skipton Building Society’s Grassroots Giving programme, which will provide 160 pots of £500 to groups who go the extra mile for others in their communities.

The scheme is part of the society’s 160th anniversary celebrations. With less than a week to go until the closing date for entries, the team was keen to ensure local groups were aware of the initiative and were getting their applications in.

Among those who dropped in for a chat was for Skipton mayor John Kerwin-Davey. “I think this is a fantastic initiative and I am really impressed with how creative the team has been in attracting interest – this grass living room is great! There are many local groups who work hard to make their local communities more enjoyable for others and they rarely ask for help. Help is now on offer and I’d encourage as many groups as possible to apply as there’s 160 pots of £500 to go at.”

For more information, visit skiptonbig160.co.uk/apply-for-funding. The closing date for applications is Wednesday.

* High Bentham Primary headteacher Catherine Boocock has come up with the perfect antidote to holiday boredom – the school website. She is urging youngsters across the district to log on to high-bentham.n-yorks.sch.uk where they will find lots of interesting things to read about and do.

She tells me: “Everyone works really hard to produce great materials to use with our children at school and I decided we should post them on the website. This summer I want to encourage children, parents, friends and colleagues to use the High Bentham school website to entertain and educate. There is a useful internet links page that links up with some fabulous sites. Also look on the parents’ page to find ideas to help promote learning during the holidays. Colleagues should have a look at the resources on the staff page and the assemblies and collective worshipideas page when they start planning the return to school in September! We will keep adding to the resources. It’s a really good way to make the best of what we’ve created.”

* While the warm weather is a welcome break from the soggy summers we have seen over recent years, spare a thought for the emergency services. It seems the heat has an effect on people’s behaviour, as over the weekend of July 12 to 14, North Yorkshire Police dealt with 3,490 calls – compared to a weekend average of 2,767. The calls included 152 crashes, 508 reports of antisocial or nuisance behaviour, 150 reports of violent offences, 105 domestic incidents and 29 missing person alerts. However, the force said it beat national targets by answering between more than 90 per cent of 999 calls within ten seconds. Superintendent Richard Anderson, who heads the control room, said: “I am extremely proud of our staff, who have shown absolute professionalism and dedication over one of the busiest weekends we have seen for a long time.”

* Ermysted’s Grammar School in Skipton has appeared in a Sunday newspaper’s top ten secondary schools in the north of the country. The list, which included independent, fee paying schools, saw the all-boys’ school come ninth with its closest rival, Bradford Grammar School, placed third. Top of the list in The Sunday Times guide to the best secondary schools in the country was the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle. Well done to all at the school.

*Pupils from year three at Embsay Primary School have certainly proved a dab hand in the garden. Just before breaking up for the summer they harvested 35lbs (16kg) of Maris Bard first early potatoes. They have been working with members of Embsay Gardening Club who will keep an eye on the garden over the school holiday.

* Skipton, it seems, is a favoured place for narrowboat helmsman training. Or at least, it was for a group of students from St Bede’s Grammar School, Heaton, near Bradford. They headed to the town and set sail on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. They took charge of the Lizzie Jean, under the watchful eye of proprietor David Fitch, of Airedale Cruising, and had to negotiate several canal locks en route to Gargrave.

“Dizzying speeds of up to four miles per hour were recorded but safety was always the first priority,” said public services teacher Tony Walker. The next step for the students will be train for the Royal Yacht Association Narrowboat Assessment on the Lancaster Canal in May 2014. This will test the students’ water safety, helmsmanship, handling of canal locks and tunnels, collision avoidance and engine maintenance.

* I’m told staff at the Craven Herald are beginning to wonder whether deputy editor Lindsey Moore is really who she says she is. Two separate readers have popped into the office in the past month and insisted that they’ve spoken to Lindsey Moore several times in the past, but both are adamant that the Lindsey Moore before them was not the Lindsey Moore they knew. Conspiracy theories over her true identity range from secret agent, clone to cyborg imposter. Another theory is there are actually two of her – she certainly gets through enough work each week to back this one up, although I’m told there’s less chance of two payslips making their way into her bank account than there is of pigs sprouting wings.

* Our editor recently spotted this dubious news story on the website of one of his former newspapers – The Gloucestershire Echo. The ‘story’ concerned an oversized chip being served in a Cotswolds eaterie. The editor’s eldest daughter, Holly, 4, was also tickled by the story, but she was unimpressed by the size of the “potato treat” as the Echo described it. However, she was delighted to discover a large chip of her own one teatime, and she thinks maybe even bigger. If you’ve got a picture of a big chip, please don’t send it in. Although I’m told the editor does like pictures of amusing shaped vegetables and has a lovely picture of a potato shaped like Sooty on his desktop.

* The Pantry Cafe in West Marton reveals its dark side this weekend, my sources tell me. Owner Jonathan Kerr is offering motorbikers handmade burgers with free soft drinks at his new venture – Shack 59. Open on Saturdays and Sundays, from dusk til dark, burgers, hot smoked pork and griddled bangers in buns are on offer to those returning from a hard day's ride in the Dales. Vinyl music will also be played from a genuine record player.