A BEVERLEY charity shop has received an unexpected windfall after three old dresses turned out to be vintage pieces worth hundreds of pounds.

The dresses, turned up at the town’s Oxfam shop, where they were thought to be too old and damaged to be offered for sale.

But one of the charity’s volunteers sought the advice of a friend who has studied fashion and recognised them as genuine vintage garments dating back to the 1930s and 40s.

The dresses were sent to auction at Kerry Taylor Auctions in London, where instead of the estimate of £200 to £300 they sold for £550.

Now staff at the charity shop are hoping that other people who have vintage clothing that they may have considered to be in too poor a condition to give away may be encouraged to donate it to Oxfam.

Shop manager Helen Benstead said no-one at the shop in Toll Gavel is sure where the three vintage dresses came from, or even if they came in together. They were all in a damaged condition and would not have sold in the shop.

“At Oxfam we take great time and care to ensure that we get the best price possible for donations that our supporters have very kindly donated and will seek professional advice and help where needed,” she said.

“We have a very good team of experts called Valued at Oxfam who will help us to identify potentially valuable items.

“If anybody has any vintage dresses, even in a poor condition, my advice is do not throw them away - donate them to Oxfam and you may be surprised at what they can bring.”

The three vintage dresses are described in the auction catalogue as a couture silk tulle court presentation/bridal gown from the early 1930s; a green velvet evening gown from the late 1930s and a Cresta silk magenta wool crepe gown from around 1940.

Mrs Benstead said that the £550 raised from the sale is an unexpected boost. “It is absolutely brilliant,” she said.

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The following planning applications have been submitted to the East Riding of Yorkshire Council which relate to the Driffield area:

Alterations to existing stables including the erection of a covered way, following demolition of existing lean-to extension and bird/pet enclosure, the construction of a riding arena following the demolition of chicken shed and lean-to, erection of a hay and straw store, alterations to existing driveway and access, erection of paddock fencing, and siting of a mobile field horse shelter - Lund House, 18 North Road, Lund.

Alterations to existing stables including the erection of a covered way following the demolition of existing lean-to extension and bird/pet enclosure - Lund House, 18 North Road Lund.

Erection of pig finishing house - Warren Farm Garton Road, Sledmere.

Erection of 6 dwellings (plots 3-8) following outline approval 08/04481/OUT (appearance, layout, landscaping and scale to be considered) - Ivy House Farm, 14 Station Road, Hutton Cranswick.

Conversion of existing dwelling to four apartments – Sunnyside, Wansford Road, Nafferton.

Fell 3 Beech trees and 1 Conifer tree located in rear garden as they are very close to the house, block out natural light and fears of falling - 28 Highwood, Driffield.

Erection of 4 no. dwellings - Dacre Arms Car Park Boardman Lane, Brandesburton.

Variation of Condition 2, relating to the demolition of the existing dwelling, of approved application 08/02530/PLF - Green Close Cottage Gembling Lane. Gembling.

Fell Sycamore (T1) due to size and proximity to property raising concerns about potential structural implications. - 5 Church Lane, Hutton.

ALDBROUGH CONSERVATION AREA - Fell Tulip tree (T1) due to being in a dangerous state with rotting branches and a danger to pedestrians and neighbouring property - 7 Church Street, Aldbrough.

Reduce limbs of Pine (T1) overhanging property back to suitable growth points and major dead wood to balance the crown and reduce falling debris. Crown lift 5m Lime (T2) to 5m to allow more light to garden and space for garden shed. Fell Oak (T3) with extensive dieback around base and leans. - 4 Willow Close, Brandesburton.

Crown lift mature Ash trees (T1-T5) to 5m from base removing epicormic growth and remove major deadwood. Crown lift two small unknown boundary trees (T6&T7) to 2m from base. - Highfield 12 Kilnwick Lane, Lockington.

Erection of 4 no. dwellings - Dacre Arms, Car Park, Boardman Lane, Brandesburton.

Minor amendment to planning application 09/00874/PLF relating to alterations to internal layout, removal of 2. wc’s repostioning and removal of fire escapes - Primepak Foods Ltd Unit 86 Kelleythorpe Industrial Estate, The Embankment, Kelleythorpe.

Fell a dangerous Sycamore tree - Manor House, Main Street, North Dalton.

Outline application for residential development of up to 21 dwellings (All Matters Reserved) - Field House, Bridlington Road, Driffield.

Members of the Midlands and Yorkshire Classic Car Club are getting ready for their last classic car meet of 2012.

Owners of cars from a bygone age will be getting together on Sunday December 2 for their last full meet of the year.

Anyone who has a classic car that is pre-1985 is welcome to come along, even if they are not a member of the club.

No pre-booking is needed, and there is no entrance fee.

The event is being held on the car park of the Black Swan public house in Brandesburton, just off the A1035 and starts at 11.30am.

The event is organised by the Midlands and East Yorkshire Classic Car Club, which holds regular meets in the region.

Club Secretary John Langham said: “We hope as many local classic car owners as possible will come along and make 2012 go out on a high note, historically speaking.”

Although this is the last event of 2012, the club intends to welcome in the New Year bright and early by holding the first UK 2013 classic car meet.

This will be on New Year’s Day at the same venue, starting at Noon.

Do you love the taste of Red Lemonade, launch into ‘The Fields of Athenry’ at the drop of a hat or find yourself admiring ‘the grand stretch in the evenings’?

If you do, then this book, jammed with hilarious reflections on what it is to be Irish, will have you nodding in agreement with every turn of the page! And if you don’t have a clue what any of the above is about, then it could be time to put your hand in the pόca, fork out the spondulicks and try to fit in, for Jaysus’ sake!

From the authors of the smash hit Stuff Irish People Love and all 14 books in the side-splitting Feckin’ series comes another entertaining and self-deprecating guide to the unique passions of the ‘Paddies.’

Between the pages of this unique little book are approximately 100 things that Irish people like, such as waving hello to complete strangers on country roads, using the ‘cupla focal’ to stress their Irishness when on holidays, going for a few pints after mass, claiming a relative who fought in the Easter Rising, explaining hurling to foreigners and nicknaming statues (for example ‘The Floozie in the Jacuzzi’).

Do you like taking the ‘makings of a fry’ on holidays, can you recognise your mother’s twenty-seventh cousin, twice removed and do you love boasting about Ireland’s literary geniuses, but have never read one?

Is the red man at a pedestrian crossing a challenge rather than caution, do you think there’s nothing peculiar about moving statues, do you eat potatoes with every meal, change into your swimming togs under a towel on the beach, worship Ray Houghton, the legend, and constantly say ‘Know what I mean like?’

More Stuff Irish People Love will have you nodding agreement at the turn of every page (if you’re Irish) and for all foreign readers, it will explain a lot about the Irish!

From its quirky holographic cover to its essential insights into all that the Irish hold dear, and from innocent traditions and mildly eccentric peculiarities to stuff that’s just downright daft, this is the perfect Christmas gift for Irish folk wherever they live.

However, be warned ... reading this book may give you a craving for a salad cream sandwich or cause you to moan about Peig.

(O’Brien, paperback, £8.99)

He might be deployed on the edge of empire but wily Roman centurion Marcus Aquila is always at the heart of the action... and the intrigue.

The Wolf’s Gold is Anthony Riches’ fifth novel in the outstanding Empire series and it’s pleasing to report that his stories of thrill-filled, heart-pounding heroics in the reign of the notorious emperor Commodus just get better and better.

Authenticity and mind-blowing battle sequences have always been Riches’ strong points and now he can add masterful storytelling and plotting to his list of attributes.

His thumping good novels are rich in dialogue, characterisation, military realism and the kind of black humour that brings to life the hardy warriors who formed the fighting backbone of the Roman Empire.

Here he transports his battle-hardened hero Aquila, a patrician with a secret past, from campaigns in the wilds of ancient Germania to lawless Dacia (modern day Romania) where the mines of Alburnus Major hold enough gold to pave the road to Rome.

Centurion Marcus Corvus of the 1st Tungrian cohort is an inspirational officer. Known as ‘Two Knives,’ he is the kind of leader that any man would follow into danger without needing an order.

But Marcus is on the run from the Rome of capricious Emperor Commodus who has executed the young officer’s high-ranking father and family, declaring them all traitors.

Marcus and the Tungrians have been sent to Dacia, on the north-eastern edge of the Roman Empire, with the mission to safeguard the gold mines, a major source of imperial power.

The mines would make a mighty prize for the marauding Sarmatae tribesmen who threaten the province, and the outnumbered auxiliaries are entrusted with their safety in the face of a barbarian invasion.

Beset by both the Sarmatian horde and more subtle threats offered by men who should be their comrades, the Tungrians must also come to terms with the danger posed by a new and unexpected enemy. They will have to fight to the death to save the honour of the empire – and their own skins.

Riches gets as near as is possible to the life of the Roman soldier... his world-weary wit, his ruthlessness, his earthiness, his fighting spirit, his prejudice and his shared camaraderie.

Throughout this exciting series, we have come to know the trusty band of brothers who make up the Tungrians and watched their characters and relationships develop as they face hardship, danger and death.

Thrilling plotlines have taken them to the empire’s most dangerous corners and their adventures and misadventures are always recounted at breakneck speed whilst still retaining meticulous attention to detail.

The Wolf’s Gold is a first-class action novel, brimming with brutal combat and suspense, and yet threaded through with a subtle brand of melancholy and evocations of the power politics that made Rome tick.

A must-read for historical fiction fans...

(Hodder & Stoughton, hardback, £14.99)

Graffiti has been around for hundreds of years - and author Peter Godfrey can prove it.

He has produced a booklet called “A pictorial record of stonemasons marks and others found in the churches of East Yorkshire.”

Mr Godfrey spent more than a year visiting 152 churches - many of them in the Driffield area - before carefully recording the marks he discovered etched into brickwork and often dating back to the 1600 and 1700s.

Mr Godfrey’s “labour of love” has provided what is thought to be a unique record of such marks, which take many forms from simple outlines to complicated sundials.

Mr Godfrey said: “In the Spring of 2011 I set out to record as many stonemasons’ marks as I could find in the stone churches of East Yorkshire.

“I have made every effort to record the marks as faithfully as possible, generally with my own freehand sketches, but also by photographs.”

Mr Godfrey said that the marks broadly fell into three categories - stonemasons’ marks, carved sundials and graffiti.

Mr Godfrey said: “Stonemasons marks are generally of simple geometric patterns, such as arrows and crosses.

“Some represent individual masons and some are the marks of the quarries from which the stone was obtained or part dressed.

“Carved sundials appear on the south walls of many of the older churches, “ said Mr Godfrey, 69, , who is retired after a career in the architect industry.

“They are generally known as mass dials, since they were used for the timing of the services. A wood rod or gnomon was placed in the central hole and the time was measured accordingly.”

The third category, graffiti shows in many ways - from the initials of individuals to elaborate drawings. Mr Godfrey, of Hull, has included a collection of the more interesting examples in his booklet, which is available to buy from selected churches and from Sokells.

Put away the Xbox, switch off the telly and discover the true spirit of Christmas in the sparkling selection of book from Scholastic this year.

Our kids have never had it so good... from birth to teen years, there are books here to enchant, entertain and instruct. What a gift for parents as they track down the perfect presents this year!

Take a look at what’s in store:

Age six months plus:

Fancy Dress Christmas by Nick Sharratt

Get babies in a flap this Christmas with a cracker of a book that combines all those toddler favourites – peek-a-boo pages to turn, bouncy rhyming text and lots of animal noises to join in with. There’s a fancy dress Christmas party, and everyone’s in their best costumes. Children will love lifting the flaps to discover which animals are hiding behind the disguises. Mouse has come as a candle, Cat’s an angel, but who has come as a Christmas tree? Is it Owl? Fun on every page!

(Scholastic, hardback, £10.99)

Age 3 plus:

Superworm by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

Meet Superworm... a super-long, super-strong superhero! From the very inventive inventors of The Gruffalo comes a new and adorable character guaranteed to wriggle his way into our hearts. See him wind up for action and enjoy watching him squeeze in and out of all kinds of tight spots because there’s no other worm like Superworm. Yes, never fear, Superworm’s here and his adventures will leave little ones squealing and squirming for more. The truly imaginative ways a worm can become a multi-tasking superhero ensure Superworm’s destiny as a classic picture book hero whose escapades will be read time and time again.

(Alison Green Books, hardback, £10.99)

My Fairy Christmas Play Book by Dawn Apperley

If there’s a little ‘princess’ in your house who would like to help the Snow Fairies get ready for their Christmas party, then this Christmas play book will have them squealing with delight! There’s lots to do including decorate the tree, choose a party dress and make the recipes and the paper chains. And when that’s done, they can put on their own Snow Fairy tiara and bracelet and join in the fun. With flaps to lift, tabs to pull, things to make and a stand-up play scene with stickers, this interactive novelty book will keep little girls entertained for hours.

(Scholastic, hardback, £9.99)

The Highway Rat by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

‘Give me your buns and your biscuits! Give me your chocolate éclairs! For I am the Rat of the highway, and the Rat Thief never shares!’ From the superstar creators of The Gruffalo comes a rollicking read-aloud rhyming story inspired by a famous Alfred Noyes poem. Accompanied by Scheffler’s big, bold and humorous illustrations, The Highway Rat’s daredevil adventures are set to become a bedtime favourite. Hours of fun for children aged three to six.

(Alison Green Books, paperback, £6.99)

Age 6 plus:

Willow Valley: One Snowy Day by Tracey Corderoy

The beautifully crafted Willow Valley series is proving a big hit with early readers and it’s easy to see why! Heart-warming stories, lively characters and enchanting illustrations make this an all-round winner. Four friends – Riley and Mimi-Rose the mice, Horatio the hedgehog and Starla the Badger – all live in Willow Valley, a place of fun, adventure and lots of ginger cake. Now winter has arrived, it’s nearly Christmas and Riley and his friends are very excited because it’s started snowing. Snowball fights, sledging and all sorts of fun beckon as the pretty white flakes float down to create a magic winter wonderland. All youngsters will want to live in Willow Valley!

(Scholastic, paperback, £5.99)

Awesomely Brilliant Christmas Doodles by Nikalas Catlow and Tim Wesson

At last, a book that takes the pain out of Christmas for busy parents! Christmas boredom will be beaten into submission by this hilarious doodle book which is packed with colouring, doodling and puzzling madness. Elf-doku puzzles, silly spot-the-differences and daring drawing challenges will have youngsters doodling well into the New Year!

(Scholastic, paperback, £4.99)

Perfectly Pretty: Christmas Activity Book

Samantha Meredith and Catriona Clarke

And how about a super cute illustrated festive gift full of puzzles and doodles? Little girls everywhere can celebrate the arrival of Christmas with this beautifully drawn activity book. They can decorate the perfect stocking, design a snow globe, draw a fairy on top of the Christmas tree and much, much more. Over 60 colour stickers will keep them glued to the fun for hours!

(Scholastic, paperback, £4.99)

Age 7 Plus:

Captain Underpants: The Terrifying Return of Tippy Tinkletrousers by Dav Pilkey

Need a zany, funny, outrageous story to stop your young readers getting bored? Look no further because Captain Underpants is back in an all-new epic adventure that’s one of his best yet! When we last saw our heroes, George and Harold, they were under arrest and headed for prison. Then Harold foolishly uttered the fateful words ‘What could be worse than going to jail for the rest of our lives?’ and changed the course of human history. In this ninth epic novel, Pilkey takes readers back in time to the carefree days of kindergarten, when the worst thing George and Harold had to face was not evil mad scientists or alien cafeteria ladies but a bully named Kipper Krupp, the nephew of their clueless school principal. And because George and Harold don’t actually invent Captain Underpants until fourth grade, the two clever kids are on their own and using their brains to beat the bully. Action, pranks and wall-to-wall laughter makes this essential reading for fun-loving boys and girls.

(Scholastic, hardback, £9.99)

Age 8 plus:

Horrible Histories Annual 2013 by Terry Deary and Martin Brown

To mark the 20th awesome and awful anniversary of Horrible Histories, here’s a book full of madcap moments and foul facts from days gone by. A new year is on the horizon and there’s plenty of new nasty bits to be enjoyed! Packed with foul facts, gory games, dreadful jokes and putrid puzzles, plus content from Horrible Histories TV, this is every child’s chance to pep up 2013 with jokes, grot and grime from history’s yuckiest moments. A must-have for all Horrible Histories fans, it’s the annual with rat-itude and guaranteed to make you go wow, aargh and yuk!

(Scholastic, hardback, £7.99)

Horrible Science: House of Horrors by Nick Arnold and Tony De Saulles

If your youngsters can stomach the sick side of science (and there are many kids who can’t!), then here it is in all its revolting glory! This really is science with the squishy bits left in. Get up close to fleas, dust mites and mind-boggling microbes. Horrible Science takes a look under the microscope to see what tiny horrors lurk in every house. Even the cleanest of neat freaks will be running for cover when they discover what they’ll never be able to get out of the carpet. House of Horrors dishes the dirt on the secret life of dust mites and parasitic pet poo, lifting the roof on the disgusting details of domestic life as only Horrible Science can. And beware of the cover which features a pouch of squishy realistic-looking maggots, just a taste of things to come!

(Scholastic, hardback, £12.99)

How to Change the World with a Ball of String by Tim Cooke

And now for something completely different! A unique and imaginative take on history that will have children looking at the world in a whole new way. By using examples from the past, Tim Cooke uses brilliant illustrations and an easy-to-understand and entertaining narrative to show how you can start your own empire, conquer your neighbours or even stage your own industrial revolution! This fascinating approach to history will mean that children never look at yesterday in the same way again!

(Scholastic, paperback, £9.99)

Age 9 plus:

Tom Gates: Genius Ideas (mostly) by Liz Pichon

Liz Pichon’s hilarious, illustrated adventure book is the perfect incentive for boys who are reluctant readers. A cross between a comic and a novel, it’s easy to read and will give hours of fun and more than a few chuckles. Seeing Delia without her sunglasses on is a BIG shock for Tom, but that’s nothing compared with the surprise that Dad has in store with his new-found fitness regime. He says he’s going to compete at the school Sports Day. Can you even imagine the horrendous shame that will bring? Meanwhile Tom, Derek and Norman are also busy with a training regime of their own –practising with Dogzombies to make sure they’re ready for the school talent show. The highs and lows of Tom’s life are funnier and more extreme than ever in this fourth wickedly witty diary from an award-winning series.

(Scholastic, paperback, £6.99)

Age 12 plus:

Witch Crag by Kate Cann

Kita lives in a post-apocalyptic world which has turned to nature since the Great Havoc laid waste to technology and science. In a tribe where basic survival is the only priority, she must make a choice to accept arranged marriages and being treated with less value than sheep, or escape and journey to the place that even the strongest men fear with their lives – Witch Crag. Kita chooses to flee to the crag but a common threat is facing the sheepmen and the witches who live there. Now the time has come for the tribes to somehow overcome their prejudices and join together if they are to win a war that threatens to destroy everything they hold dear. Cann’s clever, compelling stand-alone novel is a brilliant, teenage mix of dystopian futures, suspense, thrills and understated romance.

(Scholastic, paperback, £6.99)

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Stiefvater exploded onto the literary scene with her powerful Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy and now she’s back with another thrilling and emotionally fiery novel that goes straight to the heart of teen readers. ‘There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St Mark’s Eve,’ Neeve said. ‘Either you’re his true love... or you killed him.’ Part of a clairvoyant family, Blue has spent her 16 years being told that if she kisses her true love, he will die. So when she meets Gansey’s spirit on the corpse road, Blue knows that either he is her true love, or she has killed him. The boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her. Gansey is a student at Aglionby, a wealthy local private school. With three other mysterious and privileged boys, he is on a quest to find Glendower, a lost, ancient Welsh king buried somewhere on a Virginia ley line. Whoever finds him will be granted a supernatural favour. Never before has Blue felt such magic around her. But is Gansey really her true love, the one she is destined to kill? Blue never fully believed in the prophecy but as she is caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure any more. Multi-layered, subtle and full of angst, The Raven Boys truly has the wow factor!

(Scholastic, paperback, £7.99)

‘Oh horrors. Germany has invaded Poland. Now for hell let loose!’

At the outbreak of the Second World War, May Smith, 24, lived with her parents in Swadlincote, a small village near Derby, and taught at the local school.

She was an ordinary young woman living through extraordinary times and like many of those who experienced life on the Home Front, she recorded those six eventful, and often monotonously mundane, years in her diary.

Inevitably, the war brought changes, many of them captured for posterity in May’s entertaining and acerbic diaries. She was intelligent, clear-eyed and down-to-earth, and her moving and darkly funny diaries provide a compelling and authentic snapshot of life as it was really lived.

Evacuees arrived in the village, nights were broken by the wail of the siren as bombers flew overhead, the young men of May’s circle donned khaki and disappeared to far-flung places to ‘do their bit’ but, like many other Britons, May and her family took it all in their stride.

‘Auntie F came in announcing dramatically that Hitler is coming tomorrow, at which my father remarked that He Would, now that he’s Just Finished Papering Upstairs,’ May noted with some hilarity (and the use of capitals!).

A zealous rumour factory worked overtime but through it all, May still enjoyed tennis parties, holidays to Llandudno and going shopping for new outfits (coupons and funds permitting) and it was during these difficult time that May fell in love.

But however dull life might have seemed, every day brought reminders that Britain was at war. Rationing, the blackout (‘am getting quite used to lurching about in darkness now’ wrote May at the end of 1939), shortages, privations, restrictions and regulations – as well as destruction, loss, injury and death – all impacted on the civilian population.

May’s diaries highlight the anxiety, fear and, above all, the exhaustion of a long war that ground everyone down. Swadlincote received hundreds of evacuees from inner city Birmingham and these children had to be fitted into already overcrowded schools. In May 1944, May rejoices that she ‘only’ has 40 children in her class for once.

Inevitably, May looked forward to holidays, frequently cut short because ‘inessential’ travel was discouraged, and to pay day as her fondness for shoes, clothes and books often left her in debt to her family. ‘Only 4d to live on for the rest of the month,’ was a frequent refrain.

But May’s war was not just a chronicle of food eaten, clothes bought and altered, hair permed and frizzed and weather reports. She also listened to Churchill’s speeches on the radio and found them uplifting and inspiring, and worried about the course of the war.

Wartime life was a strange mix of dreadful events, freezing winters, anxiety, bereavement, chilblains, cold rooms, borrowed wedding dresses and what May called ‘Stygian gloom.’

May and her parents were typical of the average British family in wartime ... stoic, ever ready to dilute the exceptionalism of war, good at improvisation and determined to achieve victory whatever the cost.

Her observant, witty diaries are a joy to read and a hilarious yet heart-breaking account of life on the Home Front, a battleground where, Churchill recognised, a war can be won or lost.

(Virago, hardback, £14.99)

AFTER being a part of the town for over a century, the Driffield Branch of the Mother’s Union is set to close next week.

Members have spoken of their sadness following the decision to close the Driffield branch of “one of the finest women’s organisations in the world” following difficulties in appointing three new officers.

Wednesday December 12 will see the Driffield Branch of the Mother’s Union meet for the last time.

But it is hoped that the closure of the group will only be temporary if younger members of the community step up to take key roles.

Margaret Trow, 77, of St Stephens Close, Driffield has been a member of the Driffield Branch of the Mother’s Union for 20 years and said it is due dwindling numbers and the age of members that the branch has made the decision to close.

Mrs Trow said: “Sadly we have been unable to appoint three new officers due to the age and lack of members.

“It is very sad but if you can’t find officers who are lively enough to carry out the role you can’t carry on so we had to make this sad decision, at least for the time being.”

The Driffield Branch of the Mother’s Union currently has 25 members, some of whom have been a part of the organisation for 60 years, who meet monthly at All Saints Parish Church.

“We have a viable amount of members to keep running but a lot of us are too old or infirm to organise events and a lot of people find it difficult to sort out transport.

“Some people from church have shown an interest but they would only be able to make evening meetings - if we got enough interest in the future then that could be the way forward,” Margaret added.

The Mother’s Union is a Christian organisation with 3.6 million members worldwide with the aim of helping families in need. A large part of the Mother’s Union’s work involves helping women from poverty-stricken areas of the Far East, Africa and Asia to start up their own businesses in order to provide a better future for their families.

The Driffield branch of the Mother’s Union have been supporting women in Milawi.

“Part of the work we do is supporting women in poverty stricken areas who are struggling to raise a family. Our fundraising goes towatds helping these women start a business and The Mother’s Union provide education about how to run the businesses and recently a lot of these women have been making a profit,” Margaret said.

Margaret added: “The Mother’s Union is one of the finest women’s organisations in the world - we are primarily a group based around prayer but we have loads of fun with it and their is a very strong social side.

“I have always enjoyed being a member and there is going to be a gap there.”

Despite it’s name the Mother’s Union is now open to both men and women of any age and many of the Driffield members, including Margaret, will go onto become Diocesan members of the organisation meaning they can enjoy fun and fellowship at meetings of other branches across the country.

The Mother’s Union will meet for one final service on Wednesday December 12 at All Saints’ Church, Driffield.

Margaret told the Times & Post that the service will not be a sad occasion but a look back at the Driffield Branch of the Mother’s Union in the hope that it will re-start in the future.

“It will be a celebration of what has gone and what could hopefully happen in the future,” Margaret said,

The service will start at 2pm and will be led by the Rev. Andrew Ison and Diocesan Chaplain, Rev. Jeremy Fletcher.

A spokesperson for the Driffield Branch of the Mother’s Union said: “Everyone, whether members, ex-members, or members and friends from the Deanery will be very welcome to join us as we worship and pray together.

“We will give thanks for the past and look forward with renewed hope to the future.”

The Rev. Andrew Ison also spoke of his sadness at the closure of the Mother’s Union but echoed the resounding hope of the members that it marks a new chapter for church.

Andrew said: “It is a sad occasion but it’s also an occasion of celebration of all the good work the Mother’s Union has done over the years and a reflection on the way in which our society is changing.

“I often think that it is not until one thing comes to an end that something else begins so we will be doing what the Mother’s Union do best - have a good celebration.”

For more information about the Mother’s Union and their campaigns visit their website at http://www.themothersunion.org/

Why would an Irishman enlist in the Second World War when his country had declared its neutrality?

Raymond Wall, from Loughrea in County Galway, was just 21 when war broke out in 1939. Within days, he had joined the Local Security Force and shortly after he travelled north of the border to enlist.

He would end the war as a leading aircraftman amongst the ground crew of No 90 Squadron RAF at Tuddenham in Suffolk where his tasks included the dangerous job of loading 1,000lb bombs onto aeroplanes.

So what made Wall, who ended up settling in Dublin after the war, leave behind his family and make the trip to England to become a member of RAF Bomber Command?

‘Those were different times then,’ he later told his son. ‘They were dark times. There was an insidious evil rampaging across Europe, and decent men were needed to stop it.’

Over 130,000 Irishmen and women served during the Second World War and 7,500 of them never returned. Many more – estimates put the number at 634,000 – Irish people emigrated to Britain during the war or in the immediate post-war years to work in munitions or in other war-related industries like construction and nursing.

Neil Richardson, author of the much-praised A Coward if I Return, A Hero if I Fall, Stories of Irishmen in World War I, turns his attention here to the bravery of the Irish service heroes whose idealism and knowledge that Nazism was a threat that must be stopped led them to join the Allied forces.

Illustrated with over 150 photographs and memorabilia, Dark Times, Decent Men gathers dramatic first-hand stories from Irishmen who went to war, including those who fought at Dunkirk, North Africa and on the D-Day beaches, the RAF fighter aces and the sailors who served in U-boat-infested seas.

Richardson discovers Irish Jews who fought to defeat the Nazis and the Final Solution, Irishmen who served alongside Easy Company of the US 101st Airborne Division, immortalised in Stephen Ambrose’s Band of Brothers, and those who joined the United States Marine Corps.

Many of these servicemen endured the horrors of prisoner-of-war camps, some witnessed the Nagasaki atomic bomb and eight Irishmen won the Victoria Cross, Britain and the Commonwealth’s highest award for valour in the face of the enemy.

The last battle against a foreign invader on mainland British soil was fought by the 1st London Irish Rifles against the crew of a downed German Junkers bomber on September 27 1940 in Kent in an event that became known as the Battle of Graveney Marsh.

Through first-hand accounts and personal recollections, Richardson tells these Irishmen’s stories, many for the first time. There are tales of those who did not return, and those who did and for whom it was far from a hero’s welcome.

Paying tribute to these service people, Winston Churchill said: ‘When I think of ...Irish heroes...I can only pray that in years which I shall not see, the shame will be forgotten and the glories will endure.’

And thanks to the efforts of Richardson, the sacrifices of these ‘decent men’ live on...

(O’Brien, paperback, £17.99)

The Excelsior Brass Band will perform A Seasonal Music Extravaganza featuring flute and organ pieces on Saturday December 8 at 7.30pm in St John the Baptist Church, Carnaby. Tickets are £5 and will be available on to the door, to include drink and mince pies.

The band will also play a carol concert at the East Riding Crematorium on Monday December 3, all proceeds to the Motor Neurone Disease Association.

EAST Riding of Yorkshire Council is poised switch to fortnightly green bin collections – despite a Government warning that English councils that fail to provide a weekly bin collection could lose some public funding.

East Riding Council said the roll out of the fortnightly collections of the blue recycling bins and the green landfill bins is being driven by residents.

But Tory local Government Secretary Eric Pickles is widely reported as saying there was no “plausible reason” why some councils had fortnightly rounds.

In a BBC report he is quoted as saying that residents deserved better and promised to “look closely” at the grant funding given to councils.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council Driffield ward member Symon Fraser said Mr Pickles had been referring to councils which went against the wishes of residents and had no argument with those who were doing what the residents wanted.

“Trials of fortnightly collections of both blue and green bins in Driffield, Little Driffield and Cranswick have been well received and the reaction of residents has been hugely positive,” said Coun Fraser

“More importantly, local residents have been telling me that since the improved recycling facilities have been in place the waste in their green bins has dropped to the lowest ever amounts and that they are perfectly happy for these bins to be collected fortnightly”.

In 2004 East Riding residents had only the green landfill bins and there were 51 collections a year. Residents now have three bins and under the new service there will be 78 collections a year. In 2004 the annual recycling rate was 14 per cent, this year it will be 54 per cent.

In April the council started trialling fortnightly collections and month after month the recycling rate was 70 per cent, among the highest in the country. In those same months it was 60 per cent in the non-trial areas.

In the trial area the waste collected from the bins and sent for recycling went up by 30 per cent, while the waste in the green landfill bins dropped by 35 per cent, stopping council tax payers money being spent on landfill tax.

SANTA will be leaving his sleigh behind and visiting Nafferton on rowing boat.

Nafferton Scouts have announced that on Friday December 7 the man himself will be rowing across Nafferton Mere as the Christmas lights are switched on.

The Scouts will then lead Santa up the hill to his grotto at Nafferton Primary School.

The school will play host to a Christmas Fayre with craft stalls and games including a raffle, tombola, lucky dip, biscuit decorating a bottle stall to name but a few.

An array of trade and Christmas card stands selling jewellery, homemade crafts and books will give revellers the chance to do some Christmas shopping whilst the Driffield Silver Band get into the Christmas spirit with a programme of festive numbers.

Refreshments will include cakes, hot drinks, squash, mince pies and hotdogs.

The Scouts sad: “We hope you’ll come put to support and enjoy the evening’s festivities.”

Just how much noise can a group of children make when given encouragement this festive season?

Hearing Dogs for Deaf People want Driffield youngsters to help them find out by raising sponsorship for some sort of noise related event.

Hearing dogs alert their deaf recipients to those everyday sounds we take for granted such as the alarm clock, door bell or baby cry, and danger signals such as the smoke alarm as well as giving greater independence, confidence and companionship.

In 2008, Hearing Dogs began a ground breaking project to determine if deaf children could benefit from the profoundly life-changing experience that a hearing dog can bring. It was well documented that for an adult a hearing dog can improve confidence, relief the stress, isolation and anxiety that deafness causes. Could a hearing dog do the same for a deaf eight year old child? The answer was a very positive ‘yes’.

Lucy Ward, Community Fundraising Manager , said: “Now we all know that children love nothing more than to make a great deal of noise, especially if they know it will annoy the grown-ups and to capitalise on this, Hearing Dogs for Deaf People are inviting groups of children to organise an event called ‘Let’s hear it for deaf children’ to raise funds to train more puppies as hearing dogs for children.

The idea is for the children to be sponsored to make noise, preferably with some sort of ‘doggy’ theme like singing ‘How much is that doggy in the window’ while accompanying themselves with home-made musical instruments such as dustbin lid cymbals, old pots and pans or anything else that will add to the cacophony. With Christmas approaching, perhaps the noise could be singing Christmas carols or playing instruments at a festive party. And of course while not all adults will sponsor children to make as much noise as possible, nearly everyone will pay them to stop

To register your event and receive a fundraising pack full of ideas and advice from Hearing Dogs spokesdog ‘Kurt’ visit www.letshearit.org.uk or call Lucy Ward on 01759 322255 or e-mail: lucy.ward@hearingdogs.org.uk

East Riding of Yorkshire Council will be holding an engagement event on Monday, November 5 at Beverley Leisure Complex, designed to introduce local suppliers and smaller construction companies to the main tenderers for the Beverley Integrated Transport Plan - which includes the construction of the Beverley Southern Relief Road.

The informal networking event will provide small and medium sized enterprises with opportunities to build links with the companies vying to deliver the £27.3 million BITP and to become part of the supply chain when construction commences in summer 2013.

Allowing local businesses to share in the delivery of BITP, will provide boost for the local economy and, more importantly, safeguard jobs in the construction industry, which has been affected by the current financial climate.

Councillor Stephen Parnaby OBE, leader of East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said: “The council is committed to supporting local businesses and to providing a robust response to the current economic climate.

“This event will lay the ground work for local companies to become part of the supply chain for this long-awaited and much-needed transport project.

“Investment in our local infrastructure, such as that being made on the A164, BITP and the building and leisure centres and other amenities, will keep the East Riding working and improve our area for years to come.”

The final scheme has been designed in detail and is out to tender. A preferred tenderer will be selected in the New Year.

Subject to the Department for Transport (DfT) finalising the funding grant, works will begin on site in summer 2013 for completion in early 2015.

For further information about the event or to see if your company could benefit, call Daniel Wilson of the council’s civil engineering services project delivery team on (01482) 395337.

A Walking for Health scheme is looking to expand and gain new walk leaders who are up for a challenge and want to meet new people whilst staying active.

Local people are relied upon to commit to a few hours to help with leading walking groups where all volunteers are provided with free training and insurance to lead walks in the East Riding.

The council’s Walking for Health scheme currently has over 19 walks covering the whole of the East Riding.

Anyone interested in becoming a walk leader or wants to know more about the walks in your area should contact the council’s healthy lifestyles development officer, Laura Telfer, on (01482) 392527 or email laura.telfer@eastriding.gov.uk

Driffield 873 Squadron Air Cadets are planning an expedition to the Gambia in West Africa to help build a playground in a desperately poor community, where their partner charity G.E.T.S. uk (Gambia Education and Teaching Support) run the Sunrise Skills centre and nursery school.

Many children in that part of the world do not have access to schooling and the charity has developed as a result of the work of a group of individuals who had travelled to The Gambia initially on holiday, but had been drawn to help the local people’s situation and hardship.

Angela Longoni-Sarr, of North Dalton, has been a G.E.T.S. supporter for many years, and is now working with Squadron Leader Adey Hanrahan, and Secretary Ann Lowde in the planning and raising of funds for the trip, which also go towards the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Awards for some of the cadets.

To this end, and also to help provide local Christmas shopping in Driffield, a Christmas Craft and Gift Market will be held in the Bell Hotel (old Town Hall) from 9.30 am through to 9pm on Thursday December 6 (Lights Switch-On Day) to which all are welcome. Entry is Free.

This year, Angela has also joined forces with the Driffield Rotary Club who will be providing an opportunity for the children to visit Santa in his Magical Grotto in the Craft Market, both during the day and evening, before and after Santa’s special ride through town on his Sleigh.

Children can write and post a letter to Santa.

The bells will soon be ringing out for Christmas and Usborne, Children’s Publisher of the Year 2012, have a stack of books that will chime with the youngest readers.

The independent publisher’s range of books for babies and toddlers continues to expand and the Usborne Reading Programme now comprises over 300 titles for children learning to read and growing in confidence in their reading.

Here are some of the beautiful books guaranteed to keep the youngest family members entertained this Christmas:

Age 18 months plus:

The Twelve Days of Christmas by Lesley Sims and Violeta Dabija

This magical picture book filled with festive sights and sounds from the classic song, The Twelve Days of Christmas, will be music to the ears of little ones who want to join in the fun. Superbly illustrated with beautifully detailed and decorative scenes that children will love to pore over, the book has a press-button panel, featuring 14 sounds and incorporating the familiar tune and lively sound effects. A sturdy and appealing book that is perfect not just for this Christmas, but for Christmas future as well.

(Usborne, hardback, £12.99)

Age 2 plus:

That’s Not My Sticker Book... Christmas by Fiona Watt and Rachel Wells

Keep little hands busy this Christmas with a colourful sticker book that has been specially designed for the smallest, clumsiest fingers! There’s hours of fun for pre-schoolers who can peel off over 80 stickers (with only a minimum amount of help!) and complete the festive scenes. There’s a snowman who needs his hat, nose and scarf, a Christmas tree waiting to be dressed with baubles, a stocking all ready to be coloured and a reindeer waiting for some antlers as Santa gets ready for his busy night. The large, simple stickers are specially designed for little hands and fingers, and help to develop key motor skills. They can also complete the simple sentence ‘That’s my...’ at the bottom of each page to help them learn their first letters. Time to get stuck in...

(Usborne, paperback, £4.99)

Age 6 plus:

Christmas Carols Sticker Book by Jane Chisholm and Marie-Eve Tremblay

And for school age children who love sticker books too, here’s one that’s a real cut above! As well as the fun of matching the stickers with the pictures, youngsters are able to explore the wonderful world of art with fantastic paintings from the National Gallery in London. Featuring 11 of the most popular carols and their musical accompaniment, this amazingly different book, published in association with the National Gallery, is illustrated with Christmas and the Nativity scenes from famous paintings from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance to Victorian Christmas cards and posters. Children can have fun matching the stickers of the paintings to their labelled frames, as well as learning interesting facts about the painting and the artist. Some of the more difficult or obscure words of the carol come with an easy-to-understand explanation. There’s an art to buying the perfect Christmas present and this is it!

(Usborne, paperback, £6.99)

Age 6 plus:

Illustrated Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales

Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairy tales have been delighting children worldwide for nearly 180 years and now this stunning clothbound gift edition provides a book for a new generation to read, enjoy and treasure forever. Enchanting colour illustrations bring to life the timeless stories that have been translated into more than 150 languages and inspired films, plays and ballets. Twelve classic fairy tales are lavishly presented and include the best-loved characters of Thumbelina, The Little Mermaid and The Ugly Duckling, as well as a biography of Hans Christian Andersen, all charmingly illustrated and specially retold for younger readers. An essential addition to any family bookshelf and a wonderful Christmas gift.

(Usborne, hardback, £17.99)

Age 8 plus:

North Child by Edith Pattou

How about something completely different this Christmas ... a timeless, beautiful story that has the power to transport children into another world? North Child is the unforgettable unfolding of one girl’s love and destiny, a modern-day classic and a book to keep forever. Magic, love, loss and betrayal all have a role to play in a spellbinding story based on the Norwegian fairy tale, East of the Sun and West of the Moon. Rose is a North Child, destined to travel far from home and meet a lonely, icy death. Unaware of her fate, she makes a bargain with a mysterious bear and is carried away to a distant castle. When Rose’s actions unleash a terrible curse, she must embark on an epic journey to save the stranger who has stolen her heart. This luxury, padded hardback edition with its ribbon marker is a gift to treasure and hand down to future generations.

(Usborne, hardback, £12.99)

Light the fire, pour a glass of your favourite tipple, sit back and take yourself off to the hopelessly addictive village of Hope Christmas.

For those who indulged themselves in Julia Williams’ novel Last Christmas, this will be a return trip to the cosy community where friendships and family are the foundations of everyday life.

And if you’re a stranger to these parts, then this festive season would be the ideal time to get acquainted with the aptly named Cat Tinsall and all the lovely, lively folk who make Williams’ warm and funny books such a joy.

Shot through with gritty themes but with a deliciously soft centre, A Merry Little Christmas comes wrapped in a sparkling cover and with the promise of love, tears and laughter.

With four children, a Christmas cookbook to write, husband Noel constantly working and her mother suffering from dementia, Cat Tinsall has plenty to juggle. And when her teenage daughter Mel starts going off the rails, Cat tries to find the source of the problem and ends up with even more on her plate.

Meanwhile, her friend Pippa Holliday adores her family, although often finds her hands full, particularly as her daughter Lucy, who suffers from cystic fibrosis, needs round-the-clock care. When husband Dan is involved in a terrible accident, Pippa’s happiness is threatened and her world turns upside down.

And balancing her job as a teacher with being wife to farmer Gabriel, mother to young twins and stepmother to Steven isn’t easy for Marianne North. It doesn’t help that the school is trying to increase her workload and her husband’s ex-wife is causing a heap of trouble.

But friendships are about helping each other through the bad times as well as the good and despite a difficult year for them all, Cat, Pippa and Marianne are still hopeful that Christmas will bring some welcome cheer.

As always in Williams’s enchanting and absorbing stories, the interplay of human relationships takes centre stage, with domestic drama, the strange course of fate and affection, in all its many forms, providing best supporting roles.

A cuddly, winter-warming tale for all true romantics...

(Avon, paperback, £6.99)

A standard social history book turned into an extraordinary real-life Gothic mystery when Catherine Bailey delved into the family archives at Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire.

The end result of her research was not the intended account of the estate workers’ service during the First World War but instead a gripping and ultimately tragic tale of betrayal, deceit, honour and death which confirms the old adage that the truth is stranger than fiction.

Belvoir Castle is home to the Manners family, better known as the Dukes of Rutland, whose association with this corner of England dates back to the 11th century.

Like many other aristocratic families, the Dukes of Rutland have skeletons rattling around in their very grand cupboards, and none more so than the bizarre circumstances surrounding the death of the 9th duke in April 1940.

One of the wealthiest men in Britain, John Henry Montagu Manners, aged 53, ended his days virtually alone, lying on a makeshift bed in a dank, cramped suite of rooms in the servants’ quarters of his magnificent 320-room Gothic-style stately home.

For weeks, as his health had deteriorated, his family, his servants – and even King George VI’s personal doctor – pleaded with him to come out, but he refused.

After his death from bronchial pneumonia at 6am on April 21, his son and heir, Charles, the 10th Duke of Rutland, ordered that the rooms be locked up and they remained untouched for 60 years.

It was only when Bailey began reading through family papers for her research that she came across significant gaps in the records and set out to discover what lay behind the inexplicable omissions.

And she soon found herself unravelling a complex and compelling saga played out in the grand salons of Britain’s stately homes at the turn of the 20th century and on the battlefields of the Western Front.

At its core was a secret so dark that it consumed the life of the man who fought to his death to keep it hidden. In fact, the very last hours of the duke’s life were spent trying to complete his work on the archives, a task that he regarded as so urgent that he refused medical help.

After his death, the archive was closed up and the rooms, where the late duke had obsessively toiled for several years, were sealed off.

It was the end of a bizarre chapter for the Manners family until Bailey turned the pages on the past and discovered that three periods of their family history were missing – 1894 when the duke was almost eight, 1909 when he was working in Rome and 1915 when the country was at war.

At the heart of this mystery, she discovered, were John’s parents, the 8th duke Henry Manners and his wife Violet Manners, an imperious, manipulative woman whose actions, we discover, destroyed the happiness of her son John.

John was their second son; heir to the title was his older brother Robert, Lord Haddon, whose premature death at the age of only nine in 1894 precipitated a series of distressing events for John, beginning with his removal from the family home to live with an uncle because his mother could not forgive him for still being alive when her favourite son was dead.

Years of meddling by his cold, loveless parents, and particularly by his mother, impacted directly on the rest of his life... and on his harrowing death in a cold, soulless archive room in a dark corner of Belvoir Castle.

Bailey’s fascinating book takes us to the heart of a family tragedy as well as shedding new light on an age when the aristocracy possessed breathtaking powers and influence in both the social and political spheres.

Brilliantly researched, and written with style and depth, this is a horrifying story of love, despair, intrigue, snobbery and upper class eccentricity which reads like fiction but is amazingly – and shockingly – real.

(Viking, hardback, £20)