Over 50s Forum: The penultimate meeting of the Over 50s Forum for this winter season will be today in the village hall. The doors will open at 2pm. There is a small charge to cover costs, but tea and scones will be served. February’s guest speaker will be David Joy and his illustrated talk will be about The Changing Dales. If you would like a lift to the village hall, ring Wilf Chatwin on 793308.

Cricket Club: Indoor nets will start for seniors pre-season training at Ermysted’s Sports Hall tomorrow, between 6pm and 7.30pm. Old and new members are welcome. As usual, the club will run three junior teams –under 17s, under 15s, and under 13s – as well as an under 11s team in the junior league. It is looking for players (boys or girls) who fit into that age group to come and play. For more information, contact team manager Stephen Speak on 07969 406830 or Duncan Bullough on 07960 408178.

Embsay churches: Sunday’s Methodist Church service at 10.30am will be led by Mr P Chapel. This is the chapel’s Guild Sunday, when the congregation celebrates the work of The Guild. Every Tuesday morning, the Methodist Church Hall hosts a variety of table top games, or just come along to enjoy the fellowship. At St Mary’s, the 9.30am service on Sunday will be an all-age worship for Candlemas. At 11.15am, Holy Communion will be celebrated according to the Book of Common Prayer. Also note that at 4pm BBC1’s Songs of Praise will be broadcast from Bradford Cathedral. Tuesday is Shrove Tuesday and pancakes will be on the menu at the Cavendish Arms between 5pm and 7pm. The following day is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, and at 7.30pm the church will hold a traditional Ash Wednesday service.

Library experiment: As an experiment, the library will be open on Wednesday mornings in March from 10.30am until noon. There will be refreshments available to library users.

Pre-School Playgroup: Embsay-with-Eastby Pre-School Playgroup will be holding a Sunday Brunch in Embsay Village Hall, on Main Street, on Sunday from 11am to 2pm. Brunch includes bacon sandwiches, soup, hot dogs, toasties, pancakes and home-made cakes, tea and coffee. There will also be a cake stall, tombola, raffle and craft activities for children. Admission will be £1 for adults and 50p for children. All proceeds will go towards the playgroup.