Otley is preparing for two days of street entertainment, dressing up, singing and late night shopping.

For the first time ever, the annual pre-Christmas shopping event, the Victorian Fayre, will be played out over two days. No-one knows if it will be a success, but after last year's cancellation because of the firefighters' strike, it is hoped it will be bigger and better than ever before.

An event of such a size needs the support of as many people as possible. The more shop and office workers who make the effort to dress up the better, and wouldn't it be nice if more market traders dressed up, too?

The event can bring upwards of 30,000 people into the town with some of the food shops recording their best days of business, so it is worth putting in the effort - and for everyone, not just the small and extremely hard working band of volunteers who work throughout the year.

FAMILIES in Pool are preparing to open their homes to children from poor African families. Many families from the area have played host to the African Childrens Choir for five years and look upon them as part of the family.

The children, those lucky enough to get a place on the choir, return to their countries with a guaranteed education, while those they have stayed with get an enormous amount of satisfaction from the time spent with them.

Otley Town Council believes the town should be afforded the same careful planning as places like Chester and York.

In those towns, the yellow lines on the roads are painted narrower - to be less garish in the towns' historical settings.

So why not Otley? The current yellow lines look awful. Fresh for just a couple of days and then spread all over the roads as cars drive over them. With so much effort going on in Otley to make it look more attractive, let's push the city council to greater effort. It's not much to ask.