I THINK it’s fair to say that most of us believe we have a novel inside us.

And I think it’s also fair to say that most of us will do absolutely nothing about it.

Indeed you may be of those undiscovered literary talents who has been nurturing ‘the book’ for most of your life yet something, be it work, family, Coronation Street, just keeps getting in the way of you fulfilling your true destiny.

And yes, I speak from experience. So who better to look to for inspiration than 93-year-old novelist Bill Spence? It’s not every day you hear of a nonagenarian author, let alone one who served Bomber Command missions with the RAF during the Second World War and now writes romantic tales under a female pseudonym. Mr Spence, I salute you.

STORIES of closures in North Yorkshire’s towns and villages never seem to be far from our pages. In recent months we’ve heard of banks, schools, health facilities and bus services lost.

So it’s encouraging that Stokesley is set to revitalise its cherished library.

Just a few weeks ago its future looked bleak. With the deadline for the library due to re-open as a community-run venture fast approaching, volunteers were desperately short and there were warnings it could close.

But it seems local residents have come to the rescue - 120 of them to be exact - who have come forward as volunteers.

Plans are being explored to use the building to create a vibrant new resource, with proposals for classes and workshops of all kinds.

Nobody is under any illusion that running an operation the size of a library will be easy, but with more than 120 personally involved in the project and willing it on, success should be guaranteed.