CONGRATULATIONS to the residents of four Rawdon streets who have managed to secure £250,000 of Government funding to make their community more pedestrian friendly.

It just goes to show what can be achieved when a group of residents, with the support of their councillors and MPs, can achieve.

Now, it is up to the council and the residents to get together and decide just what measures they want to take and how to spend the money. It could mean better signs, street lamps and the pavement being blended into the road - all aimed at making the roads less attractive to cars and more attractive for people.

l The Harry Potter readathon in Otley was a fine example of the community getting together and having a whale of a time - and all for a good cause. It is a fine example of what a basically simple idea can achieve. Organiser Sue Robins was overwhelmed by the reaction of people and the support.

However cash strapped people may be at the moment, many gave what they could - whether it was money, food or time - so congratulations to everyone who took part.

The residents of flood-hit Castley Lane showed courage and determination as they tried to get their lives back to normal after the floods of October, 2000.

To see water surging towards your home must be frightening, and knowing that the water is full of mud and excrement that has washed into it is sickening.

So when the floods strike yet again, as they often have for the Denman family, they would be forgiven for giving up.

Time and again Adrian and Allison Denman have carted their furniture upstairs, then brought it down again, only to take it up again a week later when the rains returned.

Most of the residents went through the same ritual, but none of them gave up.

Not that they had a choice - as Mr Denman said, no one would want to buy a house on Castley Lane.

All the residents can do now is hope that Castley Lane will be swamped in good weather until the half-a-million pound flood defence is in place, and then their lives can, hopefully, get back to normal.