JAZZ sensation Clare Teal is to return to her roots to open Skipton's annual Sheep Day on Sunday.

Clare, who grew up in Kildwick and went on to achieve national recognition when she signed with Sony Records in 2005, in the biggest-ever recording deal for a jazz artist, willopen the event at 11.30am.

Her first Sony Album "Don't Talk" reached number 20 in the UK album charts and topped the jazz charts.

She now lives near Bath, where her home overlooks a flock of Jacob's sheep, and is very much looking forward to returning to her Yorkshire roots for the day.

It is envisaged she will sing a couple of jazz numbers, backed by the Black Horse Jazzmen - the house band from the Royal Oak, at Settle.

Theatre also features very strongly, with Skipton's Sheep Town Theatre Company in the main arena.

The audience will be invited to challenge actors from the company, which has residence at Skipton Auction Mart, to come up with on-the-spot performances.

Spectators will dream up the sheep-themed ideas and Sheep Town will then have only minutes to expand these into mini productions entitled Shaggy Sheep Tales. Also throughout the day Grassington-based Penny Plain Theatre Company will present "The Ghosts of Bolton Abbey", a slapstick comic tale of a Dales legend in the guise of a travelling Victorian theatre troupe.

Other Sheep Day offerings include the Mellin Family, with their sheepdog demonstrations (using ducks rather than sheep, due to the limitations of the High Street!) and displays of the art of sheep shearing - sponsored by Copper Dragon Brewery.

There will be demonstrations of traditional Dales crafts, birds of prey, Punch and Judy, children's rides, a medieval climbing wall and the sheep show.

This will feature five separate categories for local farmers to win trophies and rosettes, by displaying the very best of their flock.

The trophy presentation will be made at the end of the day by Cathy Caudwell-Todd and Helen James, the two Skipton businesswomen behind Girlie Gardening and currently appearing on ITV's Tycoon. Sheep Day will coincide with the monthly farmers' market, which will relocate from the canal basin to the High Street.

Sheep Day runs between 10am and 4pm but the High Street will be closed to traffic all day as the sheep pens and arena will be erected from 7am.

endsThe town hall will host a Yorkshire Craft Fair, with demonstrations from a wide range of craftspeople.

A street collection and guess the corks in the bottle competition - with a top prize of a weekend for two at Skipton's Rendezvous Hotel - will raise funds towards the town's Christmas Lights Appeal, which is the main beneficiary from the day's activities.

Sheep Day runs between 10am and 4pm but the High Street will be closed to traffic all day as the sheep pens and arena will be erected from 7am.