Ilkley'S Diana Hancock is as pleased as Punch!

The happy lady is pictured on Brighton beach just after she had lived out her dream - performing her own Punch and Judy Show.

It all began when Mrs Hancock, of Victoria Gardens, Ilkley, entered a competition sponsored by confectionery company Mars inviting people to describe their greatest wish and win the chance to make it happen.

Out of the thousands of entries received, Mrs Hancock was one of the lucky 140 winners who got the chance to live out their dream.

She said: "Punch and Judy is a dying art and I thought it would be fun to see what the people who do these shows are really like.

"I know the show is not considered politically correct any more, but I was very interested in how it all worked."

The competition attracted imaginative and bizarre entries from around the country, including a little girl who dreamed of riding a pink pony.

"I think most of the winning entries were fairly eccentric like mine," said Mrs Hancock.

The budding puppeteer travelled to Brighton with her husband last Friday and spent Saturday in training with Punch and Judy expert Sergeant Stone, who has been performing his show in Brighton for more than 25 years.

One of the few Punch and Judy men left in the country, he taught Mrs Hancock the vital tricks of the trade, including how to use a special device called a swazzle to achieve Punch's high-pitched squawk. By Sunday, Mrs Hancock was ready to perform her own show on the beach.

"I got a good audience of a few dozen, even though it was the end of the day and getting really cold," she said.

"I wasn't nervous at all. In fact, it was a laugh and I really enjoyed myself."

Despite the warm reception she received, she isn't keen to take up the job full-time: "It must be a very solitary life but I'm pleased I got the chance to try it - most people will never get the opportunity to do such a unique thing."

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