THE eighth Ilkley Summer Festival will continue the fun and entertainment in a good cause this week, as the Dolce Vita Cabaret makes its return.

The cabaret night, now in its third year, will be the biggest of this weekend’s festival events, combining open-air music with a bid to support breast cancer charities.

Starring in the main event on Saturday night will be Australian swing star Dominic Halpin, with his five-piece band the Honey Bs, performing lounge-style swing and jazz.

Recalling the famous concerts of the 1990s by celebrated tenors Luciano Pavarotti, Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo, Tre Tenori will also perform on The Grove.

Starting at 7pm, the night promises to be another highlight of the summer festival.

But there is a more serious note to the night, once again, as the concert will raise money for breast cancer charities.

A percentage of the money raised from ticket sales will go to a chosen charity, and a collection will also take place on the night for the cause.

The charitable element of the event was added by Ilkley Summer Festival director, councillor Anne Hawkesworth, who has herself fought breast cancer.

The summer festival’s founder was herself diagnosed with cancer and had to undergo surgery in 2007. The illness was detected when she attended a routine scan at a mobile breast screening unit at an Ilkley supermarket.

Since then, she has been keen to raise the profile of breast cancer, urging more women to have regular breast scans, and helping charities.

Last year, combined fundraising efforts at the cabaret night and a collection at the Last Night of the Proms concert raised around £1,800 for a breast cancer causes.

Coun Hawkesworth hopes festival-goers will be generous once more this year.

Tickets for the Dolce Vita Cabaret, as well as the Last Night of the Proms concert on August 28, are available from Ilkley Visitor Information Centre at Ilkley Town Hall on (01943) 602319.

A sequence/ballroom dance will come to the Kings Hall on Thursday, August 26, from 1.30 to 4.30pm, as part of the summer festival. Much-loved Ilkley singer Shirley Britton will be singing songs from down memory lane, and there will be refreshments supplied by Betty’s.

Admission costs £4 at the door. For further details contact Michael on 01943 608871 or call Ilkley Visitor Information Centre.

Artists Joy Godfrey and Chris Bailey will again be inviting art lovers to look inside their studio, at Unit 4, Back Nelson Road, between 2 and 4.30pm on Sunday.

The series of Ilkley heritage guided walks continues this weekend. On Sunday afternoon, Ilkley Civic Society’s Alex Cockshott will lead a walk exploring the Victorian Moorside. The free walk will set off from Darwin Gardens car park, Wells Road, at 2pm.

Another walk, on Wednesday, August 25, will go in search of Roman Ilkley. The walk will begin at the Manor House Museum Castle Yard at 2pm.