A GROUP of 40 children from Ings Primary School in Skipton visited the town's Dyneley House Surgery to build on their knowledge of the benefits of eating healthily and being active. They had a look around the fruit and vegetable garden (pictured) at the Newmarket Street practice and planted pea and bean seeds to take home and grow in their own gardens. They also listened to each other’s heartbeats using some of the practice's medical equipment and then joined in a quiz to guess the names of some less familiar types of fruit such as gooseberries, radishes and dates.

Antony Radley, Practice Manager said “ Ings School has been fantastic. We wrote to them in the spring about visiting the gardens at the Practice, so that we can reinforce learning about the benefits of eating healthily and being active. We are really keen to work with local people to help them to look after their health. Some children associate negative feelings with a visit to the doctors as they are usually unwell or something hurts but we want them to be confident about speaking to their GP and to feel able to approach them about issues that they need help with as they grow older”.

MEANWHILE, children at Glusburn Community Primary School experienced a little of what it is like to live one day as a child in Nepal one year on from the devastating earthquake. Key stage one pupils had been busy making a typical Nepali dish with cauliflowers and tomatoes the previous day and this was enjoyed with Lavash bread from a nearby Asian supermarket. The school 's UNICEF team baked buns, which were sold to raise funds for the Craven charity Kids at School in Nepal (KASIN). Trustees of KASIN, Liz and Pat Wherity, talked to the children about the challenges Nepalese children are currently facing and the task the charity has undertaken to rebuild a destroyed school in Dhadakharka. All funds that Glusburn School pupils have raised will be given to KASIN to support its work.

'MORE joy in my life', 'always really look forward to it' and 'everyone really friendly, lovely relaxed atmosphere' are just some of many positive comments about Just Sing, a new Skipton based community singing group that has just celebrated the end of its first season. Singing leader Sue Jackson says it has proved very popular with a membership of more than 50 regular singers. "Many of our members have never sung in a choir before - some are finding their voices for the first time after being told as children not to sing," she says. "As confidence has grown the quality of the singing has been transformed. We have sung everything from Mediaeval carols and folk songs to music hall and, inevitably, the Beatles." Just Sing is open to anyone who wants to sing, with or without experience, and all songs are taught by ear. Fortnightly meetings start again on Tuesday September 13 at 2pm at Skipton Baptist Church. To find out more email Sue at singskipton@btinternet.com.

HOT on the heels of the successful completion of the 5k Skipton Parkrun - no mean feat - members of Craven Couch 2 5K are continuing with their running. The around 30 members, of mostly women, joined the nationally recognised 12 week programme which literally took them from the couch, to a 5k run. Andy Mouncey, ultramarathon runner who has been with them every step of the way, said he was delighted that following the end of the programme, many of them were continuing with their running. Meanwhile, there are plans for another programme, which will once again raise money for Yorkshire Cancer Research, to take place in the autumn. It will be centred around Aireville Park, Skipton and will conclude by taking part on one of the weekly, Saturday morning Parkruns. Anyone wanting to sign up and chase away those winter blues, should contact Andy, who is planning lots of activities over the next few months, on 07799 063 115 or by email at andy@thefitnessfixer.co.uk

OXFAM in Skipton is asking for volunteers to join the team. Anyone interested in joining the team, and picking up some valuable skills, should pick up a form at the shop, at the bottom of Sheep Street.

THE newly formed Connonley Morris side will be practising in the village three times every month from September, and member Brian Amos is urging people to come along.

"Come along if you want to dance, keep fit, have fun, satisfy your curiosity about ancient village traditions or just need an excuse for a visit to the pub afterwards," he says. "Anyone can join us, dancers and musicians of any age - we range from downy to grizzled - with any level of experience." The group plans to meet on the second, third and fourth Thursdays of every month. Negotiations are ongoing as to where they will meet, but for more details, visit the Connonley Morris Facebook page.

SKIPTON based charity, Cancer Support Yorkshire has been making the most of an empty shop in the town's Craven Court shopping centre this week.

From Yorkshire Day on Monday, until the end of Saturday, its 'pop up' shop has been - and will be - both raising funds and awareness of what the charity does.

Debi Hawkins, Skipton centre co-ordinator, says: “August marks our second year of providing support in Skipton and we wanted to celebrate the anniversary in a different way. Since opening, people have been really generous in bringing in a wide range of items for sale in the centre; however it quickly became apparent that we didn’t have enough space to store it all. We regularly sold what we could in the centre and then had to say to people that we couldn’t take anymore. This gave us the idea that we should at some point have a sale to sell off the accumulated donations – and the idea for the pop up shop was born."

Since announcing the idea on its Facebook site, even more items have flooded in.

"As we have also recently changed our name to Cancer Support Yorkshire and we agreed to launch our pop up shop on Yorkshire Day - August 1," she says

Donations are still very welcome, good quality clean clothes, books – in fact anything you’d donate to a regular charity shop, except electrical goods, can be left at Cancer Support centre on Otley Street, Skipton. We are also looking for volunteers to help man the shop when it is open.”

The pop up shop - in the former Wallis unit - will be open until 4pm on Saturday.