SETTLE burst into colour this week as the town's Millennium Festival got underway.

Specially-made flags went up on shops and stalls making Tuesday's market day a particularly bright spectacle. Given the glorious weather on Tuesday afternoon, the flags were shown in their best light as large numbers of people visited the town.

The flag festival captured the imagination of traders with 50 banners being made after workshops were organised. Sue Martin, of Settle Sewing Centre, Margaret Holgate and Gill O'Donnell co-ordinated the flag-making and the flags are staying up for an extra week to give everyone a chance to see them.

Pub music, organised by Peter Lawrence, has been going on all week, and a splendid gala concert featuring the Langcliffe Singers, Settle Orchestra and international soprano Susannah Glanville was held on Monday night.

Susannah came to Settle aged four and attended Giggleswick Primary, Settle Middle and High schools before studying at the Royal College of Music and the National Opera Studio. When she lived in the town, Susannah was a member of Settle Orchestra and studied singing with Valerie Baulard, the conductor of the Langcliffe Singers, so the performance was very much a case of returning to her roots.

The evening raised £754.50 for the Victoria Hall Appeal. Any profits which the rest of the festival might make will also be going to the appeal to turn the Victoria Hall into a modern community centre and hall.

All week pupils at Settle High School on project week have been working with performers Skylight Circus and Drumdance. Their newly acquired skills will be on show during the festival fair on Saturday which features live music and charity stalls.

A large number of middle and high school pupils will also be taking part in the climax of the festival - the open air community play to be staged in the Market Place tonight (Friday) and tomorrow night at 9pm.

Matthew Hodson, 16, of Bentham, and Steven Wykes, 18, of Settle, lead the cast as the narrators, two tramps who turn up in Settle in a taxi (courtesy of Settle Taxis) and kick out the resident caveman, forcing him into exile in Victoria Cave.

The play, called Offcumdens: A History of Strangers, takes a lighthearted look at the people who have come to live in Settle over the years and the welcome they received.

Helen and Arthur Lupton and Alan Richer feature as first Roman then Norman soldiers passing through and the dark ages feature travelling vendors in the shape of High School headteacher Trevor Wear and teachers Peter Eastman, Brin Best and Elaine Watt.

Take One drama group perform as medieval travelling players and the town's Quakers re-enact a bit of their past as John Rose, David Pemberton and Harriet Hart show what happened to the first preachers in Settle.

Dancers, musicians, stilt walkers and fire jugglers add to the play which culminates with the marauding Scots invaders - in the form of rugby players in kilts from North Ribb, local pipers and motorcyclists - and the finale is a grand firework display courtesy of Bentham-based pyrotechnician David Clough.