THE Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority may just have made an inspired choice in its decision to promote from within to fill the top job of chief executive.

As our profile of Mr David Butterworth, the park's new chief executive, suggests, the new man in the hot seat is a subtle blend of the old and the new.

Having been working for the park since 1991, Mr Butterworth is well attuned to the ways of the locals. Importantly, he considers himself a local and dalesfolk seem happy to accept him as such.

But as a relatively young man he is also sympathetic to the reforms introduced by his predecessor, Mrs Heather Hancock. He is ideally placed to drive those reforms in the future. And when asked what was the greatest skill he brought to the job, Mr Butterworth said diplomacy. Clearly this is a man with a sound grasp of the challenges ahead.

Expert ear

LITTLE did the pupils of Branksome and Carmel schools realise when they prepared their speeches for the Darlington Schools Public Speaking competition this week that a true expert would be listening to their contributions.

Branksome school chose as their theme gender issues and Carmel picked genetics, unaware of the impressive CV of the event's principal guest, Lady Diana Brittan.

Lady Brittan is currently chairwoman of the National Lottery Charities Board but her previous jobs have included the deputy chairmanship of both the Equal Opportunities Commission and the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.

Lady Brittan remarked on how a couple of the schools' presentations were of particular interest to her. But she also stressed that part of the skill of public speaking was researching the audience to avoid "teaching granny to suck eggs".

Spectator's sure Lady Brittan was not making the point for the benefit of the two schools who had chosen her specialist subjects, but it served to provide a ironic twist to her message.

Woodworking

REGULAR readers of the Boroughbridge paragraphs in our North Yorkshire edition will know that weekly training sessions are held at the John Boddy timber store in the town.

Usually, an expert on woodworking is available to pass on tips. Indeed, Spectator's colleagues are convinced that, by now, every inhabitant of Boroughbridge and environs must be a skilled practitioner in the craft.

With the recent weather in mind, however, one office wag suggested a new topic for the timber store: Ark-making for beginners. Apply, in pairs, to ...