A CHEERY Duke of York found plenty to smile about when he visited an East Yorkshire school as it marks its 500th anniversary.

Prince Andrew laughed and joked with pupils during yesterday's visit to Pocklington School, asking older students if they were worked too hard and, after planting a tree, telling nonplussed five-year- old Joseph Girking: "You're in charge of it."

And he burst into laughter when he went to see members of the school's Combined Cadet Force (CCF) - who had earlier marched past him to music from the Heavy Cavalry and Cambrai Band - taking part in a series of activities on the school fields.

He gave a hearty guffaw when he asked if it was safe to walk in front of some cadets as they loaded and unloaded their guns, and again when he saw another group staging a mock casualty exercise.

As several cadets lay writhing on the ground, tended for serious injuries caused by unopened baked bean tins 'exploding' on a mock camp fire, he exclaimed: "There's beans everywhere!"

The Duke, who is Colonel in Chief of the Yorkshire Regiment, agreed to visit on the occasion of the Biennial Inspection of the CCF and as the school celebrates the 500th anniversary of its founding in 1514.

He was accompanied by the Lord-Lieutenant for the East Riding of Yorkshire, Susan Cunliffe-Lister, CCF Inspecting Officer Air Commodore Warren James, headteacher Mark Ronan and governors chairman Christopher Oughtred.

Meanwhile, the Duchess of Cornwall has visited RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire to open a new medical facility for service personnel and families at the base.

Camilla toured the centre and met medical staff and patients before joining service personnel and their families for lunch in the Officers' Mess, signing the visitors' book and watching a fly past.