Music, dancing, theatre and tricky challenges will form part of the 2003 Guiseley Festival which started this week.

The three-week event has already kicked off with an opera and folk evening and today line dancing will be available at Guiseley Theatre.

Guiseley Festival is set to attract more than 5,000 people again this year with its spectacular line-up of events.

This will be the third year of the festival and already the programme is bursting with exciting attractions and challenges.

Highlights in the festival include Gardeners Question Time, a Brain of Guiseley quiz and an antiques valuation evening.

The 2003 line-up sees the performance of Travel This Way at Guiseley Theatre running from tomorrow until Saturday.

The fun-packed event officially commences on Sunday with Guiseley Carnival followed by author Mary Sheepshanks giving advice to budding writers at Guiseley Library on Tuesday.

Organiser Richard Hughes-Rowlands said: "We are trying to put something on every night of the festival.

"This is the third annual Guiseley Festival, last year the event attracted more than 5,000 people we hope there will be even more this time.

"We are hoping it will be very successful because we have tried to provide something for everyone's taste this time.

"Most of the events are free, apart from the quiz, where there is a small charge for pie and peas."

An art exhibition is being run by Guiseley Art Club at the Methodist Church on Oxford Road over the weekend.

Residents will be testing their wits against each other in the Brain of Guiseley quiz and will be asking for advice in the Gardeners Question Time session.

There will be performances by Guiseley Brass Band, a sing-a-long afternoon at Harry Ramsden's fish restaurant and an antiques valuation evening.

A flower festival, strawberry teas and a children's poetry competition will help to finish off a successful event.

The event will be running until Sunday, July 13, and has been given lots of coverage on the Guiseley FM community radio station, which will finish broadcasting on Sunday.

Three concerts are planned throughout the festival at Guiseley Theatre, these are 'Travel This Way', 'Philocletes' and 'Two by Two'.

The flower festival will commence on Friday, July 4, and will be opened by well-known portrait and botanical painter Alan Hydes. Other events include a wine-tasting evening, visits from famous authors and an antiques valuation evening by a presenter from the television series 'Floggit'.