A STUNT actor whose mentor is Hollywood actress and star of the Terminator films Linda Hamilton is aiming to introduce Craven folk to the world of trapeze.

Carolyn Dean has spent the best part of the past 13 years in the movie business, doubling in fight scenes, risking her neck in car crashes, performing in "pirate" shows in India and learning the martial art, Kung Fu - and the Chinese language- while working with Shaolin monks in China.

High points of her career have been joining Linda Hamilton in the Terminator 2 film; working with the late Bob Hoskins and Rhona Metra in the movie Doom's Day, shot in South Africa; and appearing with Emile de Ravin in Air Force One Is Down.

Now Carolyn is back home in Threshfield and performing a new act as a trapeze artist - her latest outing was at the Grassington 1940s weekend.

There she demonstrated her aerial circus skills dangling from a tree and choreographed to Vera Lynn singing A Nightingale in Berkeley Square.

"It's a beautiful piece of music. I've spent hours crafting the moves to go with it. It's been a labour of love," said Carolyn, 38.

As well as trapeze, she also performs with an aerial hoop and on a length of silk.

"I've branched out into aerial circus in the last few years and I'm hoping people would like to see and get to know more about it. I can see it working well at functions and weddings," she said.

She hopes eventually to have a portable rig which she can use for both performance and teaching.

She said: "I already have my own trapeze and the equipment to rig it from a suitably tested beam/tree branch or whatever .

"The idea of acquiring a portable rig is to have something that is free standing and can be transported to venues such as school halls or playing fields or conference centres - whatever people want really.

"I'm always on the lookout for places to dangle from. I went for lunch at The Fountaine Inn in Linton last week and had my eye on the beams they have in the dining room. That would be quite a nice spectacle, I think."

Carolyn, a former pupil at Skipton Girls' High School, dropped her career in accountancy in 2000 and began training at the Australian Stunt Academy where she was crowned "180 Queen" for her skill at performing 180-degree handbrake turns.