THE Herald was approached by a national newspaper recently and asked would we be putting a picture of the Queen on our front page in June, as we did 25 years ago? A sharp-eyed reporter had picked up on the fact that it was the first time in Herald history that adverts were removed from our page one and was putting together a story about apathy for the monarch's 50th jubilee.

The honest answer was that no decision has been taken. But it is clear that people are stirring to mark the event. It was probably so 25 years ago. In the dark days of winter few can be bothered to plot street parties and galas but as the days draw out our columns tell of more and more meetings and plans in villages up and down Craven.

The Dales will probably let its hair down and enjoy the festivities in June just as it did in 1977.

In Skipton a major festival on the canal looks an exciting venture and the Duke of Wellington Regiment's march through the town will be a spectacle not to be missed. But we fear that a bandstand on the canal basin will be a white elephant.

One suggestion - it isn't ours but it seems like a good idea - is to replant trees on the High Street and repair the setts, just as the town did in 1897 to mark Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.

With all due respect to the hard-working organising group, the existing bandstand in Aireville Park is hardly a good omen and an unused graffiti-strewn edifice on such a key spot in the town would be a disaster.