TWO more volunteers with valuable experience have come forward to back our campaign to save York's Mystery Plays.

One is Simon Tompsett, who was business director of professional theatres in Harrogate and Inverness in the 1990s.

The other is Mark Brayshaw, boss of Rockin' Horse Promotions, who has managed a number of events over the years in York, including last Christmas's festive lights, which involved the illumination of York Minster.

Mr Tompsett says he translated and directed productions of the Mystery Plays, using local amateurs, for two summers at the Arts Centre in the 1980s, when he was administrator there. He later went to work at Inverness and Harrogate.

"Since then, although I've been away from professional theatre looking after my two small sons for the last few years, I do occasionally direct for the Settlement Players.

"This autumn I'm directing a new play for them by a local writer, the 'Fall Of Man', about a group of people putting on a Mystery Play of that name."

He was now working as finance officer for a local voluntary sector trust, but only on a part-time basis.

Mr Brayshaw said: "As one of York's most prolific event managers it would be shameful if I did not offer my help and experience to the prospective board in their bid to save the Mystery Plays.

"The Plays of 1984 provided my first taste of large-scale events. I was just one of the many stewards that year but the excitement of the whole event inspired me to learn the art of event management."

He helped launch York's commercial radio station Minster FM and later became Group Events and Marketing Manager before, in 1999, launching his own event management and marketing business.

A major part of his work was co-ordinating and managing event services such as staging, lighting and sound.

"I am also very experienced in event risk assessment and the dynamics of crowd control so I could be useful to the board even in the very early planning stages."