MUSEUMS in York and North Yorkshire are gearing up for a new season of events.

Easter visitors to York Dungeon will be the centre of grisly witchcraft trials - run with newly-recruited dungeon actors.

New faces to the popular attraction will accuse visitors of unusual crimes before demanding they stand trial and boost the scare factor of the revamped Witch Trial Display.

There is fierce competition for dungeon acting jobs, but fresh talent will be allowed plenty of room to blossom.

Performance supervisor Tania Dron, said: "There's lots of scope to improvise, there's always a good sized audience, and it can be a stepping stone to stage or screen."

Anyone over 18 with previous acting experience and sturdy nerves should send a CV and photograph to: Tania Dron, Performance Supervisor, The York Dungeon, 12 Clifford Street, York, YO1 9RD, or telephone 01904 632599.

A new display at the Castle Museum will show how fashion fanatics of the past stepped out in style.

The exhibition in York will show shoes and boots from the 1730s to the 1990s.

Highlights include a pair of 18th century silk women's shoes with steel buckles which were designed to fit either foot. There will also be winkle-pickers, stilettos and a pair of blue leather platform boots.

The curator of costume and textiles at the museum, Josie Sheppard, said: "From platform soles to stilettos and winkle-pickers, when you see our new shoe display you'll realise that there is really no such thing as a new fashion, just a new take on what went before." Meanwhile, the World Of James Herriot, Thirsk, is preparing for a Mother's Day trip down memory lane with a display of historic prams. Fifteen prams dating from between 1860 to 1960 will be exhibited by local collector Daphne Coulson, to allow mothers to see how their mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers were pushed around.

Centre manager, Sue Dalton, said: "This display will take mums on a real trip down memory lane. It will depict how prams have evolved and been modified over the last 100 years."

Mums unable to visit can view them for free by logging on to www.jamesherriot.org.

The prams will be on display from 11am until 4pm until Monday.

Updated: 11:02 Saturday, March 29, 2003