SCARBOROUGH Healthy Walking Project is launched tomorrow. The project, organised by the Scarborough, Whitby and Ryedale primary care trust and backed by a £10,000 grant from the Walking the Way to Health group, is encouraging people to leave the sofa behind and take a walk on the North York Moors.

The walk starts at 11.15am at the Corner Complex, North Bay, Scarborough. For further information, call the trust on (01653) 602900.

CHECA CHAT: Moto GP star Carlos Checa will talk to members of a Northallerton club about his life as a motorcycle racer tomorrow. The 30-year-old Spaniard - who lies equal fourth in the championship - will be at the North Yorkshire Road Racing Supporters Club meeting at The Elders pub in Elder Road from 7.30pm. Admission costs £5.

DVD THEFT: A DVD player and a number of DVD discs were stolen from a house off Richmond's Victoria Road between Thursday night and the early hours of Friday morning.

SEWAGE SCHEME: York-shire Water is to start work shortly on building a multi-million pound waste water treatment works at the cliff top village of Ravenscar, near Scarborough. Project manager Gerry Smith said: "The new plant will improve the level of treatment which the sewage receives. It will mean that the effluent which leaves the site will be treated to a much higher standard."

PEWS GONE: A tiny church in the shadow of Ripon Cathedral is completing a millennium project to make it more community-friendly. Six pews have been removed at the west end of the church of St John the Baptist, in Bondgate, to create a welcoming area which can also be used for meetings, discussion groups, refreshments and displays.

GOLF PLAN: Ripon City Golf Club has been given planning clearance by Harrogate Borough Council for a "half-way house" timber building at the tenth tee, but councillors have ruled that the type and shade of external colour treatment must be approved by planners.