function localsign()
{
// produces HTML for local area signs
// calling syntax: localsign("Alpha","Bravo,"Charlie")

// for each parameter
for (var parameter = 0; parameter < localsign.arguments.length; parameter++)
   {
	// ensure first letter is capital
	localsign.arguments[parameter]=localsign.arguments[parameter].charAt(0).toUpperCase() + localsign.arguments[parameter].substring(1,localsign.arguments[parameter].length+1)

	switch(localsign.arguments[parameter])
		{
		// pages run by Local Co-ordinators
		case "Cambridgeshire":
			lsurl='/local/cambridgeshire/index.htm'; break;
		case "Cleveland":
			lsurl='/local/cleveland/index.htm'; break;
		case "Kent":
			lsurl='/local/kent/index.htm'; break; // was http://www.gal54.com/abd
   	// page on main site
		default:
			lsurl_prefix='/local/';

			lsfilename = localsign.arguments[parameter].toLowerCase()
			// expand abbreviated names
			switch(lsfilename)
				{
				case "gtr manchester":
					lsfilename = "greater_manchester"
					break;
				case "kingston":
					lsfilename = "kingston_upon_thames"
					break;
				case "richmond":
					lsfilename = "richmond_upon_thames"
					break;
				case "tyne & wear":
					lsfilename = "tyne_and_wear"
					break;
				}
			lsurl=lsurl_prefix + lsfilename + ".htm";
			// convert text to filename
			// replace space by underscore
			while (lsurl.indexOf(" ") != -1)
				{lsurl=lsurl.substring(0,lsurl.indexOf(" ")) + "_" + lsurl.substring(lsurl.indexOf(" ")+1,lsurl.length + 1)}
			// replace ampersand by and
			while (lsurl.indexOf("&") != -1)
				{lsurl=lsurl.substring(0,lsurl.indexOf("&")) + "and" + lsurl.substring(lsurl.indexOf("&")+1,lsurl.length + 1)}
			// abbreviate excessively long names
			switch(localsign.arguments[parameter])
				{
				case "Barking and Dagenham":
					localsign.arguments[parameter] = "Barking & Dag'm"
					break;
				case "Hammersmith and Fulham":
					localsign.arguments[parameter] = "Hamm. & Fulham"
					break;
				case "Kensington and Chelsea":
					localsign.arguments[parameter] = "Kens'n & Chelsea"
					break;
				case "Tyne and Wear":
					localsign.arguments[parameter] = "Tyne & Wear"
					break;
				}
			break;
		}

	if(localsign.arguments[parameter]=="England" || localsign.arguments[parameter]=="London" || localsign.arguments[parameter]=="London Boroughs" || localsign.arguments[parameter]=="Wales" || localsign.arguments[parameter]=="Scotland" || localsign.arguments[parameter]=="Northern Ireland")
		{
		SignClass='SIGNGREEN';
		SignImage='green_direction.gif';
		}
	else
		{
		SignClass='SIGNWHITE';
		SignImage='white_direction.gif';
		}

	document.writeln('<TABLE BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 CLASS=SIGN>');
	document.writeln('<TR>');

	if(localsign.arguments[parameter]=='')
		{
		document.writeln('<TD COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT=9></TD>');
		}
	else
		{
   	document.writeln('<TD WIDTH=114 HEIGHT=23 CLASS=' + SignClass + ' onmouseover="style.cursor=' + unescape("%27") + 'hand' + unescape("%27") + ';"  onmouseout="style.cursor=' + unescape("%27") + 'hand' + unescape("%27") + ';" onclick="location.href=' + unescape("%27") + lsurl + unescape("%27") + ';" TITLE="' + localsign.arguments[parameter] + '">');

   	document.writeln('<A HREF="' + lsurl + '" CLASS=' + SignClass + ' TITLE="' + localsign.arguments[parameter] + '">');
   	document.writeln('<NOBR>' + localsign.arguments[parameter] + '</NOBR></A></TD>');

   	document.writeln('<TD ROWSPAN=3 WIDTH=20 HEIGHT=23 CLASS=CHEVRON onmouseover="style.cursor=' + unescape("%27") + 'hand' + unescape("%27") + ';"  onmouseout="style.cursor=' + unescape("%27") + 'hand' + unescape("%27") + ';" onclick="location.href=' + unescape("%27") + lsurl + unescape("%27") + ';">');


   	document.writeln('<IMG SRC="/images/' + SignImage + '" WIDTH=14 HEIGHT=23 BORDER=0 TITLE="' + localsign.arguments[parameter] + '"></TD>');
		}

	document.writeln('</TR></TABLE>');
	}

return true
}