CRAFTSWOMEN aim to create mutton dressed as lamb to help an annual agricultural event take place despite the foot-and-mouth crisis.

Members of the Durham guild of weavers, spinners and dyers are staging a public demonstration this weekend, when they plan to use their various craft skills to make a substitute sheep.

The challenge was thrown down by organisers of Masham sheep fair, which is taking place without live animals owing to the lingering problems associated with foot-and-mouth.

Guild members have taken up the challenge and plan to make a life-size three-dimensional sheep during a public demonstration at Durham's botanic garden, tomorrow and Sunday.

Norma Butcher, who chairs the 35-strong guild, said visitors to the botanic garden, on Hollingside Lane, off South Road, were welcome to make their contribution. "It will probably be made with chicken wire and fleece with all sorts of other bits and pieces. We hope members of the public attending the demonstration will feel free to add to it."

The public demonstration forms part of a month-long display staged by the guild at the botanic garden's visitor centre.

The guild meets on the first and third Thursdays of the month, 10am-3pm, at Redwood Lodge, in Church Street, Durham.

The display can be seen at the botanic garden daily, until August 4, while the demonstration runs from 10am-4.30 this weekend.