A walker who dropped in to the Dalesman Cafe in Gargrave was presented with a bottle of vintage champagne after buying the 400th traditional vintage basket. Helen Alderman, from Bingley, had not realised the vintage baskets were for sale at first, and thought they were just for show, said cafe owner Linda Hartell. “She chose a basket especially for the purpose of carrying the cakes and buns she makes and takes to friends, and was delighted and very, very surprised to receive a bottle of vintage champagne,” said Linda. Helen also received a miniature commemorative basket and all her friends got a glass of pink fizz and party poppers to help them on their way back to Bingley.

Customers at Skipton’s Oakley’s Grill and Pizzeria are busy making real pigs of themselves - but its all in a good cause. For the third year running, the Albert Street family restaurant is staging its Man or Woman vs Oakley’s charity challenge. It sounds simple enough - all those taking part have to do is eat a large amount of food, washed down with a monster milkshake all within an hour. Competitors, and last year saw 156 taking part, each pay £25, £20 of which goes to Cancer Support. Owner Jamie Oakley said he had been amazed by how popular the challenge had been in the last two years and was delighted to bring it back once again. “Sadly, everyone knows somebody affected by cancer, so we are delighted to aim to raise £5,000 for Cancer Support Skipton. We look forward to seeing those man - or woman - enough to take on the challenge.” The challenge will run until the end of November. The best 10 will be invited to take part in a grand final on December 21 to be in with a chance of winning a holiday for four in Lagos, a Playstation 4, tennis lessons from Skipton Tennis Club and meal vouchers from Oakleys. Anyone wishing to take on the challenge can book a table at Oakley’s Grill and Pizzeria on 01756 796216 or by visiting its website at oakleys-restaurant.co.uk Small and medium-sized businesses in Craven are being urged to enter a competition to find the most innovative and exciting. Jointly organised by Business is Great and BT Business, the competition is designed to champion smaller businesses and to showcase the government’s growth support for the industry. Winners of the regional Yorkshire and Humber heat will go forward to the national contest, and be in with a chance of winning prizes of more than £30,000. Entrants must employ no more than 250 people and can enter one of three categories - best exporter, most innovative small business and best growth story. To find out more go to greatbusiness.gov.uk/competition.

A plea has been made for help to gain votes so a Skipton charity has a chance of winning some much-needed cash. The appeal is to raise the profile of local children’s charity SELFA (Skipton Extended Learning For All, selfa.org), but for a very specific purpose. The idea is to get as many votes for SELFA’s ‘AuSome Autism Independence Group’ via the Engaged Mutual Assurance to secure vital funds of up to £5,000 to help SELFA continue running this group. The project is a weekly social independence group for children on the autistic spectrum, including weekend residential. Each week the small group of six to ten children aged from nine to 12 will try new activities such as eating out, bowling, golf and boat trips. The link to vote is at engagemutual.com/foundation/projects/222226/ “We would be so very grateful if you could help in anyway for us to get more votes for SELFA,” writes a grateful parent of one of the youngsters who is helped by the group - so get voting!

Returning to the subject of food, two women swapped their business suits for aprons to cook an Asian style traditional English roast for residents of Skipton. Bradford solicitor Nasreen Karim and her friend Salima Iqbal visited Skipton restaurant, Omar Khan’s, on Keighley Road, to cook a Sunday roast with Asian spices. “It was a bit of a role reversal for us,” said Nasreen. “It was different trying to cook a home-made roast in a commercial oven.” Nasreen said that English people had a real appetite for “English food with an Asian twist”. And so Nasreen and Salima prepared a traditional roast leg of lamb and roast potatoes using ingredients such as ginger, coriander and chillies. “This kind of fusion food appeals to people,” said Nasreen, who cooked for a restaurant full of people on a Sunday afternoon, a time when it is not usually open.It was a lazy Sunday afternoon, but it was exciting for us to see the diners eat the food we have at home.” Such was the popularity of the event, Nasreen is now hoping do the Asian-style Sunday roasts on a more regular basis.

Earlier this year, the Sunday Times named Skipton the best place in the country to live. It has now named one of our pubs amongst the top 20 pubs with rooms in the country. The paper’s Travel Section says the Angel at Hetton, pictured above, is well worth a visit. ‘Expect nooks, crannies, exposed beams and fireplaces,’ says the paper. It also mentions great local ales, a renowned wine list, a restaurant and brasserie menu. Instead of Tapas, visitors should expect Yapas, and rooms feature claw-foot baths and chunky, dark wood or wrought-iron beds.

There are, believe it or not, some advantages to the weather turning cooler. An acquaintance tells how, on one of the warmer days at the beginning of this month, he pulled up at a filling station on the outskirts of a Yorkshire city at about 7.30am to be startled by the sight of a man nonchalantly fuelling his car while clad in a dressing gown. Fortunately it was a relatively long one, or the experience could have been quite unpleasant, but hopefully frostier mornings will persuade even such exhibitionists to put some trousers on before they get behind the wheel.