by Caroline Barrett, Maxine Gordon and Janet Hewison

At long last it's time to get the suncream and the shorts out - at least for this weekend anyway.

Temperatures soared to 22C or 72F yesterday and according to forecasters the sunshine is set to last for the whole weekend.

"Yesterday was the warmest day of the year so far and over the weekend it's going to stay fine, dry and sunny with temperatures getting into the low 70s again, giving us the first taste of summer," said a spokesman at Leeds Weather Centre.

The warm weather arrived just in time for the first ever Ladies Day at York Racecourse's spring meeting.

The special day is usually reserved for the Ebor race meeting in August, but racing officials at the course thought it was about time the ladies had their own day at the three-day May Festival.

Marketing manager David Grouse today hailed it a huge success. "At every race meeting in the country, such as Royal Ascot, Thursday is always ladies day - it's a sort of tradition," he said.

"For us in York it's given the day an identity. It hasn't been much different from any other day, apart from there's been more hats!"More than 40,000 people have visited this week's meeting.

"We've been very lucky, the weather certainly makes a difference. And the racing has been superb too - I'm sure visitors were given a taste of next month's Derby winner."

Meanwhile motorists in the region were today asked to stay cool out on the roads, in a drive to be nice to each other.

Giant electronic displays urging drivers to be courteous are part of a campaign to steer motorists away from road rage.

Two large signs displaying the message: "Courtesy Day Keep Calm - Keep Your Distance" will be on show on major routes across the country, including two on the A1 at Dishforth.

It is all part of National Courtesy on the Road Day, backed by the Highways Agency and the RAC for the third time. It is the brainchild of the Campaign for Courtesy.

This year's event comes in the wake of a new survey revealing the top ten hates of road users.

Last year, tailgaters were labelled as public enemy number one. This year, it's mobile phone users.

Other bugbears include drivers hogging the middle lane, cars not indicating and drivers cutting across lanes at the last moment.

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