Have a ball!

charities and quite literally have a ball!

Debbie Burns is hoping to build on the £25,000 the Rotaract Ball has raised for a variety of charities over the past 11 years.

This year's Rotaract Ball takes place at Ilkley's Craiglands Hotel on Saturday, December 19. She said: "We are looking for more people to attend the ball in order to maximise support for our

chosen charities."

Members are hoping to raise £3,000 for the Alzheimer's Disease Society and British Diabetic Association.

The club's president said: "Ladies, dig out your best party frock, gents, dust down your tuxedo. Join us and 300 other people and start your Christmas off with a bang."

You will be able to dance the night away to live music performed by The Moondog Beatles and Bacchus Discos.

The ball includes a Christmas meal, featuring rack of lamb and Christmas pudding for dessert.

Ilkley Rotaract meetings are held on the first Tuesday of the month at The Red Lion, Burley-in-Wharfedale, and the third Tuesday of the month at The Ilkley Moor Vaults, 8.30pm. For further details about the Ball (tickets are £26) or Ilkley Rotaract Club, contact Debbie Burns on 01943 817848.

THE Ilkley Literature Festival is inviting schools to get involved in a new drama project called Word of Mouth starting next month.

Word of Mouth is a theatrical production that has been commissioned by the Festival from Bradford theatre company, Twisting Yarn. This is part of the Festival's 25th anniversary programme of lottery funded youth outreach projects.

Festival outreach co-ordinator Amy Young said: "Word of Mouth gives four to seven-year-olds from Ilkley and Keighley schools the opportunity to help create and inspire a performance. This performance will go on to tour schools throughout Yorkshire during autumn 1999, after an initial pilot tour of schools in Ilkley and Keighley in February."

Writer Akulah Agbami will use work produced in school workshops to explore ideas and to create a performance targeted especially for this age group.

The final production examines dreams and sleep through the character of a trickster. It aims to stimulate interest in oracy and literacy by using traditional non-European stories as a starting point.

Twisting Yarn Theatre Company is the Alhambra Theatre's Community, Education and Outreach department. Its main role is to provide a free service to schools and community groups in the district. For more information, call Amy Young on 01943 601210.

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