Organisers of street parties and other community celebrations to mark the Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations can get help to pay for the events.

Grants of up to £250 will be available from Bradford Council to organisations, schools, residential homes and groups of people who want to organise jubilee events.

Tickets to a garden party hosted by the Queen at Harewood House, on July 11, will also be available to 18 people in each council ward. They will be distributed via local councillors to those who have made a particular contribution to their communities, following criteria drawn up by council officers.

And 10,000 trees will be planted across the district by the Forest of Bradford in partnership with the council as part of a "celebration and memorium" theme. Members of the public will be invited to plant a tree in memory of an event, an anniversary or a loved one.

Bradford's Alhambra theatre is to host "Fifty Years of Theatre", a production involving amateur groups from across the district joining forces to perform songs and sketches from different periods of the Queen's reign. This follows on from the success of the popular "Hundred Years of Theatre" staged in the city's centenary year in 1997.

Tea dances are also being organised across the district.

Bradford Council's leader, Cllr Margaret Eaton, said: "I am very excited at the planned events to celebrate the Queen's Golden Jubilee and it will be excellent to see communities across Bradford coming together to have fun and honour the Queen.

"I would urge people to take advantage of the council's offer to help pay for the street parties. This money will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

"The celebrations are a time to look forward as well as back, and could provide the ideal opportunity to meet new people, make new friends and to forge new links across the different cultural groups in the district."