CANCER Support Yorkshire in Skipton is urging people to get out their Hawaiian shirts and summer dresses and join the charity for its summer night party night.

It will take place at The Railway Inn, Cavendish Street, on Wednesday, July 24, and everyone is invited.

Kicking off at 7pm, guests will be met with a refreshing ‘spritzer’ followed by a platter of tapas.

A spokesman for the charity tells me: “The evening is being held to raise money for Cancer Support Yorkshire and is a great way to kick start the summer holidays.

“Landlady, Carol and the team at the Railway are sure to give everyone a sunny welcome and the food will be amazing.”

Tickets are £20 each with £10 being donated to Cancer Support Yorkshire.

To book call Cancer Support Yorkshire on 01756 228088

TURNING 50 compelled Dean Majors from Skipton to start up a new business, and now, in addition to serving drinks and making good things to eat at two businesses in the town, he is also carving out a new career providing Swedish body massage. Dean, pictured below with hot stones used in back massage, tells me it was when he was at catering college, some 30 years ago, when he stumbled into the beauty room and saw a beautician carrying out a Swedish body massage. Three decades later, he decided that there was a gap in the market, and set about getting trained in Swedish Massage. Now, fully qualified, he runs The Backman Clinic, four evenings a week from The Luxe Clinic, off Newmarket Street. Dean, who also works at the VSQ Bar in Victoria Street, and at the Sound Bar in Swadford Street, says a lot of his customers are people like him, chefs who spend a lot of their time on their feet. “ I help the good people of Skipton work out their daily stresses and strains with a deep, relaxing back and shoulder treatment, in a room that is tailor made for chilling in.”

CHARITIES and community groups across Yorkshire have now been awarded grants totalling £5 million as part of Tesco’s Bags of Help initiative. Since launching in 2015, the scheme, run in conjunction with the charity Groundwork, has seen £75 million from the sale of Bags for Life fund more than 25,000 local projects across the UK.

This week the total grants awarded passed the £5 million mark, with 1,969 projects across Yorkshire and The Humber benefitting to date.

The projects supported have been diverse, but have all been voted for by Tesco customers because of the difference they make in their local community.

Customers are able to vote for a Bags of Help project in Tesco stores using a blue token given to them at the check-out. At the end of voting period, votes are collected and three groups in each of Tesco’s regions will be awarded funding. Anyone can nominate a project and organisations can apply online. To find out more visit: tesco.com/bagsofhelp.

MIKE Harding, who lives in he Dales, has been recognised for his lifelong commitment to Irish music. The singer, songwriter, and also comedian, author, poet, broadcaster and multi-instrumentalist, was at the Fleadh traditional Irish music event, at Kirkby Lonsdale, where he was honoured as ‘Great Bard of the Event’. He is pictured left with Ruaidhri Dowling, of the Irish Embassy in London. Around 5,000 people attended the event, which was being held for the first time in a market town, and not at a school or university.

THE Woodland Trust’s information caravan has been parked outside Skipton Town Hall recently, promoting the work of the trust, and inviting people to sign up as supporters. The charity manages the wonderful Skipton Castle Woods, of which it is rightly proud. Not only is it a relaxing place to walk, just minutes from the bustling High Street, but it is a haven for wildlife, including a family of kingfishers, and of course, the one last remaining terrapin, who has been seen a lot lately, sitting on a rock in the Mill Pond, basking in the sun.

THE owner of two nursing homes in South Craven says it is doing more than ever to ensure its residents enjoy a healthy and balanced diet. The Czajka Care Group,based in Saltaire, and owner and operator of Currergate Nursing Home in Steeton, and Beanlands Nursing Home in Cross Hills, says it is responding to reports that 35 per cent of elderly people are at nutritional risk when they first move into a care home. It’s area catering supervisor, Gerard Raedcher, said: “The research surrounding the risk of malnutrition in care homes is shocking, especially when it’s a problem with such an obvious solution. However, care homes do have to put the work in, in order to fully understand their residents, as well as their likes and dislikes. Moving into a home can be a big change and it can have an impact on a person’s eating habits.”

Last year, residents at Beanlands Nursing Home in Cross Hills began growing their own organic produce in their grounds, after a large vegetable patches were created. They also include paved pathways and raised planter style areas that are fully wheelchair accessible and the initiative has proved to be hugely successful.

DALES writer, Julia Chapman, author of The Dales Detective Series, dropped in at The Stripey Badger Bookshop in Grassington (pictured above) to sign copies of her just launched latest book ‘Date With Poison’.

The previous three books in the series are bestsellers for the Stripey Badger – whose sister business the Stripey Badger Coffee Shop and Kitchen provided cream scones to welcome everyone who came along.

Linda Furniss from the bookshop said:”The first anniversary of our bookshop is almost upon us. Julia officially opened the shop so we’re so pleased to have her back again to tell our customers, new and old, a little of the plot in Date With Poison and why “drop by drop Brunscliffe is turning toxic”.

A competition to win all four of the books was won by Heather Murdoch, a regular customer in the shop.

50 YEARS ago, on July 18, 1969, the Herald reported on the ‘spirit’ of Bolton Abbey’s Rectory and Priory. The spirit had been seen twice in the last month by the then Rector, the Rev Frederick Griffith Griffiths, and also his 20 year old daughter, Lynn. They saw the spirit disappear around a corner of the Rectory, and the Rector also saw a figure in the house window, but when he looked, there was nobody there. Apparently, the best time to see the spirit is during daylight in July - I wonder if it is still seen.

ALSO being reported was farmer, Richard Haggas, of Otterburn, and his shorthaired, black and white cur, Gem, who he claimed to be in her 21st year. Mr Haggas had paid £12 for the dog when she was a puppy, and she had gone on to have six or seven litters, the last at the grand old age of 16. Mrf Haggas wondered if anyone knew of an older dog.

A HUNDRED years ago, on July 4, 1919, the Herald was reporting on a meeting held in Lothersdale to discuss peace celebrations and also a war memorial. After some discussion, it was agreed to go ahead with a dinner to be given to all the residents of the village over 55 years of age, and all demobilised soldiers, along with their families.