SKIPTON: England’s largest family puppet festival returns to Skipton this weekend.

Starting tomorrow, it will be full of inspiration and magic for all ages.

And it is also one of the focuses of the current exhibition at Craven Museum and Gallery.

A Tale of Two Festivals showcases not only the puppet festival, but also the delights of the Yarndale Festival which took place at Skipton Auction Mart last weekend.

A Tale of Two Festivals will run until Sunday.

* Skipton Folk Unplugged will hold a singers' night on Monday.

The club meets at the Narrow Boat pub, on Victoria Street, from 8.30pm and all are welcome.

SETTLE: Acclaimed author Frances Brody will launch her new book at Settle Library next Thursday, October 1.

Set in Langcliffe, A Death in the Dales tells of the murder of a tavern owner and the guilt of the only witness, Freda Simonson, who believes the wrong man has been convicted. Following her death, it seems that the truth will never be uncovered.

The launch event will take place at at 6.30pm and to book a place, email settle.library@northyorks.gov.uk or telephone 01609 534535. Tickets cost £2.

* Settle Parish Church will host an organ recital by Paul Fisher on Saturday at 7.30pm.

The programme is called Melodies All Sorts and will feature melodies from classical and popular music arranged for organ including Mozart, Vangelis, Strauss, Fisher and others.

There will be a refreshment interval and admission is free, with a retiring collection for the organ fund.

* The Golden Oldies (known as the GOs to their friends) will entertain at an event at Victoria Hall to mark UK Older People’s Day.

Organised by Age UK North Craven, the free event will take place today and will celebrate the contribution made to the community by people in later life.

The GOs started out as an over 50s light exercise group, but now provide entertainment, costumed and choreographed song, fun and dance all over the North West.

For more information and to reserve tickets, contact Sue Bradley on 01729 823066.

* The Folly has looked overseas for its latest exhibition.

It is hosting Textil/Juvel: Contemporary Craft from West Sweden.

It features seven leading makers of textiles and jewellery and reveals the rich craft heritage of West Sweden, together with an awareness of the natural world and humans' impact upon it.

The show is the fourth in the Art Unpacked series of exhibitions from Chrysalis Arts of Gargrave and will run until November 1.

Visitors to The Folly - home of the Museum of North Craven Life - will also be able to view the Community Skills exhibition, which has been running since the spring.

It tells the story of the potteries in Burton-in-Lonsdale, which were fired up in the mid 18th century and showcases around 60 pots from the museum’s collection.

It too runs until November 1.

For more information, call 01729 822854 or visit ncbpt.org.uk/folly.

* The Gallery on the Green - housed in a converted telephone kiosk - is hosting a photographic exploration of the US Pacific Northwest by June Davies From Tiny to Tall features bugs, birds, flowers, beaches, sunsets and magnificent redwood forests from the Pacific Northwest and Northern California.

The exhibition will run until October 10.

For more information, visit galleryonthegreen.org.uk.

* The Lime Gallery, at The Courtyard, will unveil its latest exhibition today.

Nature's Elements features a series of photographs featuring Iceland and Greenland by Ross Brown.

The images include dramatic glacial icescapes, aerial photography, landscapes and close studies of the flora and lichens wresting a precarious life from apparently barren terrain.

The exhibition will run until November 6.

EMBSAY: The village's Pre-School Playgroup will present An Evening of Live Music, featuring Rebecca Joy and The Rockets in Embsay Village Hall on Saturday.

The doors open at 7.30pm, with the music starting at 8pm followed by a disco. Tickets are £10, including supper, and are available from Embsay Pre-School on 01756 791123.

GARGRAVE: The Community Library will show the film, My Old Lady, in the village hall tomorrow.

The comedy drama stars Maggie Smith, Kevin Kline, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Dominique Pinon and is about down-and-out New Yorker, who travels to Paris to liquidate a large, valuable apartment he has inherited from his estranged father. Once there, however, he discovers an old woman, living in the apartment with her daughter.

The screening starts at 7pm.

* The West Yorkshire Savoyards will give a concert in St Andrew's Church on Saturday at 7.30pm.

They will perform favourite excerpts from Gilbert and Sullivan's works.

Tickets costing £10 are available from 01756 748483 and there will be an interval with cheese and wine.

GIGGLESWICK: Community Cinemas will show the family film, Minions, at the Richard Whiteley Theatre on Sunday at 3.30pm.

INGLETON: Ingleton will stage its annual folk festival this weekend.

It will kick off tomorrow, with a festival ceilidh in the community centre, featuring the Batty Moss Ceilidh Band.

Tickets are priced at £10 and the proceeds will be split between the festival and the church roof repair fund.

However, most of the festival events are free and include concerts, workshops, face painting, morris dancers, a Punch and Judy Show and an array of sessions and singarounds at various venues.

There will also be a folk songs of praise in the village square, the much-loved comic song competition at the Hill Inn noon and an open air concert at the Falls Cafe at 1.30pm.

For more information, visit ingletonfolk.co.uk.