A MESSAGE in a bottle found in the roof space of a North Yorkshire village hall has inspired the community to launch another into the future.

A note in an old lemonade bottle was found by contractors working on the refurbishment of the reading room at the Middleton Tyas Memorial Hall, near Scotch Corner.

Signed by Alf Hardy and three others, research suggests they were working on the building 90 years ago.

But talk about the find prompted local people to contribute to a new time capsule, which will be placed where the old one was found.

It will include contributions from the village school's 86 pupils, photographs, pen portraits of villagers, maps and local histories. An exhibition of the contents was held at the Memorial Hall over the weekend.

Project spokeswoman Diana Thomas, said: "The contents of the millennium box will give future generations a snapshot of life in the village at the turn of the 21st Century and the preceding 50 to 100 years.''

Meanwhile, the lemonade bottle and note which started it all have been framed in a case, made by Greensleeves of Richmond, and will be hung in the hall