HOPES of Helmsley cashing in on a Heritage Lottery Fund grant to help celebrate the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta, have been dashed.

Councillor Martin Vander Weyer, chairman of the organising committee in the market town, said the application had been made by the Magna Carta Barons Association to commemorate the historical milestone next summer.

However, he added, the celebrations in Helmsley – one of four North Yorkshire towns with close links to the Magna Carta, the others being Thirsk, Skipton and Topcliffe – would still go ahead, with funding being sought from a local and regional level.