NORTH Craven communities have scooped almost £10,000 to help them celebrate the millennium.

Millennium Festival Awards for All grants have been awarded to Settle's millennium festival and Langcliffe's various activities to mark the year 2000.

A book on Langcliffe, called Langcliffe, Glimpses of a Dales Village is now with the printer and the village's £5,000 grant has financed this as well as workshops, archive advice, photographic materials, an exhibition, training and advice for a time line tapestry and expert help on parish maps.

A copy of the book will be given to every household in the parish with donations gratefully received to help towards the collection and publication of material which could not be included in the volume.

Already 23 children from the village have enjoyed a cartoon workshop led by Tony de Saulles, illustrator of the Horrible Science books. The youngsters produced illustrations of the story of Victoria Cave and these will be reproduced in leaflet form.

There will be an exhibition in Langcliffe between May 27 and June 18 and a music and drama workshop led by Richard Leigh is planned for May 27.

Ladies from the sewing group are busy completing practice pieces before starting work on the panels of the time line tapestry. They have already attended a session at the Kendal Quaker Tapestry workshop.

Meanwhile, a grant of £4,350 to the Settle Community Festival Group will enable the week-long event, scheduled for July 17 to 22, to go ahead according to plan.

There will be a community play in Settle Market Place and a temporary festival arch will be constructed there. Residents and businesses are being urged to make and display flags during the festival, and three workshops will be held with a professional flag maker.

There will also be residencies with theatre groups to work on the open air play, which is on the theme of "Offcumdens".

The grant means the festival can go ahead as planned, with professional help and materials provided.

The grants are two of 285 which have been awarded to communities across Yorkshire and total £877,063 throughout the region.

Judith Courts, senior awards officer for Yorkshire and Humberside, said: "Millennium Festival Awards for All give everyone a chance to get involved in making the year 2000 memorable for their community.

"What makes them special is many of the community organisations will be receiving lottery money for the first time."

o Tickets are now on sale for non-residents who want to attend Wigglesworth's millennium festival, which runs from June 17 to 24. These include An Evening With Bill Mitchell on Monday June 19, Midsummer Night Music with Giggleswick School Concert Band on June 21, a Parish Pump Show with Sid Kipper on June 23 and an evening dance with Smokin the Swarm and Public Sector plus fireworks on June 24.

Tickets are available from Wigglesworth Post Office or by ringing 01729 840839.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.