Local shops and businesses are being urged to get behind a bid to publish Baildon's first ever community handbook.

The scheme is the first major project taken on by the newly launched Baildon Community Council and it is now hoped the directory may be ready for distribution as early as the summer.

Crammed full of information about village life and local groups, the free 52-page handbook is to be distributed to some 7,000 Baildon homes.

With village groups offered free space to promote their activities and the project set to cost several thousand pounds, local businesses are being sought to help fund it by taking out adverts.

Initially it had been hoped to have the book ready by the end of the year, but the Rev Sarah Groves, chairman of the community council, said: "Things have been going really well and we'd really like to get the handbook published in June and distributed over the summer.

"The pages are filling up and what we're looking for now is local businesses to take out adverts.''

It is hoped the handbook, designed to have a three-year shelf life, will reach every household in Baildon and advertising rates have been set at £120, £65 and £35 for full, half or quarter page ads respectively.

Meanwhile, groups, charities and organisations, which are either based in or cover Baildon, are still welcome to submit a 40-word resume of their activities for inclusion.

The publication will also feature a map, photos, an article on Baildon's history and information about local services such as doctors' surgeries, schools and bus routes.

The Rev Groves said: "We don't want people to just think of Baildon as a place to come home from work to sleep in - we want to help build up a sense of community and hopefully the handbook will help.''

She added that the community council, which was set up last summer, had been delighted to receive a £500 Community Chest grant - which will help cover the administration costs of its newsletter for a year - from Bradford Council's Shipley Constituency Area Panel.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.