ROLL up, roll up, for all the fun of the circus - while you shop.

York's Monks Cross Shopping Park has become a venue for a training school for would-be clowns and circus performers.

Chuckle the Clown and his ever-faithful sidekick, Hazel, set up a "circus school" along the walkways to help put some zing into those long summer holidays.

Hazel and Chuckle have been teaching everyone from young to the not-so-young how to juggle, walk on stilts, spin plates and have a go at diabolo, pedalgo and devil stick.

Katherine Hague, the centre manager, said they had been looking forward to the days of circus fun.

"We hope to find some potential circus performers that we know are out there," she said.

"All they need to do is give it a go. You never know what skills you've got until you try."

Performances ran yesterday, and from 11am today.

Updated: 10:50 Friday, August 01, 2003