ONE year ago, an arts group held an "inspiration day" in the hope of coming up with ways of picturing life in their village in a work of community art.

The initiative by Terrington Arts, based in the village of the same name near Malton, led to a workshop to make impressions of things in plaster.

The event was sponsored by the local council and everything was tried, from tree bark to house names.

But the idea that made the most impression - in more ways than one - was to make casts of people's hands, with the help of local artist Gerard Naughton.

Gerry Bradshaw, of Terrington Arts, said: "We now have over 70 hands, old, young, delicate and hard used, and clay versions of them are being fired by Rural Arts North Yorkshire at Thirsk.

"We plan to site them as a work of art within the village in the spring, to be a permanent record of the community in the new millennium."

The project is part of Terrington Arts' Living History project, supported by National Lottery funds.