ONE of the region's greatest attractions is celebrating next year - and a new face has been appointed to make sure the party goes with a swing.

It will be the 20th anniversary of the National Trust taking over Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal, the UN-recognised World Heritage Site near Ripon, North Yorkshire.

The year will have a birthday celebration theme, all led by the site's new events and fundraising officer David Edwards.

"I'm really relishing next year," he said yesterday.

"We're making a few changes and have some really big names coming to perform so we want to make our 20-year anniversary a celebration to remember."

His background is mainly theatrical although a four-year period working in Perth, Western Australia, has prepared him for various sites, indoor and outdoor.

Already booked as part of a week-long festival for next year are comedians Jasper Carrott and Phil Cool in their first performance as a duo in about eight years. Time Team's Tony Robinson will also be hosting a tribute to the trashy times of the 1970s.