MANY of us will have experienced the occasion when over-exuberance of pulling a crisp note out of our wallet or purse has resulted in it being torn in two.

Generally speaking, all you can do in this instance is tape the two halves together again.

But what would you do if you found one like that pictured above which looks like it has been through a shredder?

This, once pristine £20 note (pictured) was given to a reader when he was doing some building work at a gentleman’s home over the border in Lancashire. The gentleman had been tidying his garden and found the note under his hedge.

Suspecting it had been through the lawn mower, or chewed by mice, or both, he handed it to the builder saying: “There you go; a bonus! See if the bank will change it for you.”

Not the type to look a gift horse in the mouth, the builder said he’d have a go.

So, what happened to the sorry looking note?

We decided to try some of the Skipton banks for their expert guidance when presented with half the Queen’s face, half the water mark, two thirds of the metallic strip, almost all the holograph but only one of two serial numbers.

Clearly it was a genuine £20 note at one time and, in fairness, we knew we were probably on a hiding to nowhere given its state, but we thought it interesting to find out just how much of a note you needed for it to be regarded spendable currency and which bank, if any, was willing to give you its face value in exchange.

First stop was HSBC. The cashier said it was a no-hoper. She said her bank’s policy was that at least three quarters of both serial numbers (one on each side) had to be in tact and the whole of the Bank of England wording on the front of the note had to be there in its entirety.

Clearly this example was not going to pass muster, however, she did give us a form where we could send the remains of the note off to the Bank of England and they would likely refund the amount into an account or by a cheque.

We tried both Barclays and Nat West and were told the same, only in their case they would require the Bank of England wording and all of both serial numbers before exchanging the note over the counter.

Incidentally, you also had to be a customer in all the cases.

So, there you have it. If you come across a bank note that is very much worse for wear you should be able to exchange it by sending it, with the appropriate form, directly to the Bank of England. A bit of a phaf, but it’s still £20 at the end of the day.

READER Jenny Smith shared this picture (below) of rubbish she picked up while on a dog walk near Malsis. ‘Not everyone appreciates our beautiful countryside’, she writes.

How true, my walking colleague tells he she goes out into the countryside prepared with a large rucksack so she can take back home all the rubbish she finds while out and about. She tells me she was spurred on after interviewing Jo Moseley, of Embsay, who last year paddle-boarded her way from coast to coast, taking in the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and picking up all varieties of plastic rubbish along the way.

POPULAR folk groups will be performing in Guiseley on Saturday February 8 in support of Dalesbus, the unique network of weekend bus services to the Yorkshire Dales.

Paul Harrison, chairman of the Friends of DalesBus, said: “Without the fund-raising work of Friends of DalesBus, very many people living in West Yorkshire, especially younger and older people on lower incomes without use of a car would be denied access to the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

“We also want to encourage everyone to help save the environment by using DalesBus to reduce their travel carbon emissions. Every ticket sold and every penny raised will go towards keeping these icon bus services to the Yorkshire Dales”.

Headline act will be The Hall Brothers and John Carey who perform at folk festivals and clubs throughout the country. They will be supported by equally popular local groups Keepers Wood and Hazjak, and the evening will be hosted by Muppett well-known local impresario and DalesBus enthusiast. All artists are giving their performances for free to support DalesBus.

The event will take place at Coopers Bar, Otley Road, Guiseley, and doors will open at 7pm for a 7.30pm start. Tickets at £10 can be purchased on the door on the night or in advance by contacting Muppett on 07814601980.

A RECORD -breaking 329 million people in 124 countries tuned in to watch the 2019 UCI Road World Championships last September, it has been announced by Welcome to Yorkshire.

Global viewing figures increased 31 per cent, up from 250 million the previous year, and the event -which saw two of the event races coming into Craven - was broadcast to 24 more countries than in 2018.

The Yorkshire event was only the fourth time the UCI Road World Championships have been held in Great Britain, and the first time since 1982.

Chairman of Yorkshire 2019 Chris Pilling said: “These are fantastic figures which far exceed our initial broadcast expectations. We pledged we would showcase Yorkshire to 250 million people across the globe, so to reach 329 million in 124 countries is very satisfying. We delivered an inclusive, innovative and inspiring championships which I have no doubt will attract new visitors to our beautiful county for many years to come.”

COULD these daffodils, left, pictured on Sunday, January 26 near Horton in Craven be the earliest daffs in Craven? There seems to be plenty of snowdrops sighted, and daffodil leaves, but these were not far off bursting into flower. Shame the weather turned nasty just a couple of days later and very likely killed them off.

ANYONE up early enough on a recent Sunday may well have heard Sam Moorhouse of Hesper Farm, Bell Busk, talking about his skyr dairy product on BBC Radio 4’s ‘On Your Farm’ programme.

Sam was the first in Britain to start producing skyr, an Icelandic cultured dairy product, with the consistency of Greek yoghurt, but with a milder flavour.

The low fat, high protein, skyr has been part of Icelandic cuisine for centuries, and as part of his research, Sam took himself off to Iceland tolearnfrom the masters. He has now - with the help of the family’s award winning Aireburn herd - been making skyr since 2005 and is still the only farm making it using British milk and an original Icelandic culture.

Sam has recently joined forces with David Hird and Yockenthwaite Farm (pictured ) with a skyr and granola snack pot. Hesper Farm’s products can be found at supermarkets and other outlets, including Morrisons, Booths and Keelham Farm Shop.

BENTHAM Town Council is on the look out for people with specialist knowledge or practical skills to volunteer in times of emergency. In the latest edition of Bentham News, Christine Downey, town clerk, writes that the council is working to complete its community emergency plan. The plan will identify procedures to be adopted in the event of a ‘major incident’ ‘occurring in Bentham. Emergency plans, she writes, work best when they make use of existing organisations and local knowledge, and with that in mind, the council is asking people to step forward.

To find out more, email: townclerk@benthamtowncouncil.co.uk