A CHARITY performance on Friday will boost a town's Christmas lights appeal and its parish church.

Proceeds from a new musical, Sister Josephine Kicks the Habit - based on the characters of late Yorkshire singer-songwriter Jake Thackray - takes centre stage at Masham Town Hall.

Among the audience will be workers from T and R Theakston, the Masham-based brewery, which is sponsoring the production.

Thackray, a former teacher at Intake High School, Bramley, Leeds, went on to find fame as a singer-songwriter.

Sister Josephine Kicks the Habit brings to life many of the eccentric characters created by Thackray in his 30-year career, most of it spent in Swaledale and which earned him the accolade of Yorkshire's Noel Coward.

Tickets for the show cost £8 and £4 concessions, and are available from Masham Community Office on (01765) 680200.