The sport of fencing has long had a reputation as a pursuit for toffs.

It is known as a pastime for the upper crust and trainee actors, practised in public schools and drama schools and watched with some curiosity every four years when it occasionally pops up as a late-night offering during Olympic television coverage.

But that image could be about to change.

Pierce Brosnan made in macho and rock diva Madonna gave it sex appeal when they appeared clashing swords in the latest James Bond movie Die Another Day.

Brosnan abandons hi-tech gadgetry and turns to old fashioned swashbuckling in his latest excursion to save the world.

Waiting en-garde to take on the expected spin-off is the fledgling Skipton Fencing Club, just two-years-old and already enjoying a six-fold increase in its membership - from 12 members to 74. Pictured is club member Roisin Blake, aged 12.

And in charge is the unlikely exponent, Keith Hopper, a Methodist minister from Grassington, who set up the club which meets every Thursday in St Andrew's Church Hall in Newmarket Street.

"It's superb that fencing is getting such a high profile - high visibility is what the sport needs to grow," said Keith. "It has always been regarded as elitist - played in public schools and the armed forces.

"And there's the assumption that it's expensive. But to buy the kit - foil (sward) mask, jacket and gauntlet - is no more costly than buying football kit and boots.

"The sport needs new blood because the more people that play it, the more champions we will make."

Skipton is already doing its bit in its two under-15s Yorkshire Champions - Helen Wilkinson and James Green. Several of the other fencers are also nationally-ranked.

Keith, 51, who started fencing 15 years ago, set up the Skipton club after receiving a £1,400 donation from Skipton Temperance Society. With a grant also from the Yorkshire Amateur Fencing Association he bought foils, masks, jackets and gauntlets to arm 12 fencers

Now the club has invested in three electrical scoring boxes to which fencers are wired when fighting.

"When I came to Skipton seven years ago there was no fencing club so I took a coaching course, taught at a youth club and ran a class for Craven College in Skipton before setting up the club," said Keith. Now the club is the second biggest in the region and going from strength to strength."

Keith is due to leave the area next August but is confident he will leave behind a club with a secure future.