A GRAND golden jubilee knees up is on the cards for residents of two sheltered housing schemes - thanks to more than £1,000 from the National Lottery.

The more than 70 older people who live at Lea Croft and Myers Croft in Otley, will celebrate the golden jubilee with a street party on Monday, June 3.

Tables will be laid out on the green at Lea Croft, the road will be closed and the whole area will be decorated with patriotic flags and bunting.

And there will even be an entertainer who will sing, tell jokes and play his keyboard.

Ann Walker, the warden at Lea Croft, said she was delighted when she discovered they had been given £1,210 from the lottery's Awards for All section.

She said she had come up with the idea at a social club she has run at Lea Croft for the last ten years.

"We're really pleased, now we just hoping that the weather is good," she said.

The plan is for tables to be laid at a small green in Lea Croft. The social club already has the permission of both the city council and the fire brigade to hold the party.

Mrs Walker, who has organised the event with Sandra Pickles, warden at Myers Croft, said she hoped it would be a good day.

"We've got the bunting and we've had our entertainer, Terry Wadkin, booked for a long time," she said.

Meanwhile, planned celebrations across the area are falling into place.

In Otley, a commemorative book, Otley, Past, Present and Future, is almost finished with a hoped for release date of Saturday, June 1 at a cost of £5.

The book, an enlarged version of a book first published to commemorate the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977, is being edited by John Morgan with contributions from people all over Otley.

He said around 100 clubs and organisations had contributed to the book including the town's churches, Otley Cycle Club and Briscoe's Brewery - the town's own brewery.

Packed with information about the town's history, its facilities and events, the book also includes an update of what has happened during the 25 years since the Queen's Silver Jubilee.

Mr Morgan said: "We've got all the annual events covered and they've all happened in the last few years. If you look at 25 years ago, the only annual event was Otley Show. Since then we've got Otley Carnival and the folk festival. There were road races, but nothing like we've got now."

There is also a section on the development of Otley Mills - from its growth to a busy worsted mill, to the collapse of the industry to its present day incarnation as a business park.

"We've also covered the change in photography over the years and the revolution in news gathering," he said.

Set to appeal to everyone in the town, the town council-backed project also covers morris dancing sides Otley Wayzgoose and the Buttercross Belles and their efforts to re-establish the maypole in Manchester Square.