VILLAGERS across North Yorkshire are being given a helping hand to extend their artistic skills.

Rural Arts North Yorkshire, which is based at Thirsk, has taken to the road with a suite of laptop computers after wining a grant of about £25,000 from the Department for Education and Employment.

The idea is to get people participating is some "creative information technology", such as photographic manipulation and animation.

At the same time, members of the arts team plan to help get those who have not yet experienced the Internet online.

The team recently took delivery of the set of computers and has already led workshops in Reeth and Terrington, near Malton. Next week, more project work is planned in a village pub at Scruton.