A TRADERS' initiative which helped business boosting events in Saltaire is being wound up but its funds could help buy two defibrillators for the World Heritage Site.

Totally Locally was started two years ago as an off-shoot of the Saltaire Traders' Association and organised a successful Christmas festival of local food and wares at Victoria Hall.

Subsequent events included a summertime barbecue festival in which dozens of residents held linked outdoor cooking sessions in their back yards.

David Ford, of Saltaire Bookshop and the Traders' Association, helped start Totally Locally but said it had run its course, partly as he is selling up to move away from the area later this year.

He and his wife Vanessa Pilny, chairman of the Saltaire Village Society are heading to Lincolnshire and hope to be on their way around Easter.

"We are having a meeting next week to pull things together and make sure everything is still going strong with the Traders' Association after we've gone," Mr Ford said.

"Totally Locally was an example of what can be done if you bring people together with the thread of an idea that small is beautiful. It was great fun when it worked and we do need more people to get involved in these sort of things.

"Things like the Christmas fair and the barbecues took some organising, but events like that could become seamless with time and just be watched over by the Traders' Association."

Wednesday's meeting will discuss possible uses for Totally Locally's leftover cash.

"We have some money available from the events that we've run over the past couple of years and so we want to hear ideas from people about where it should go," Mr Ford said.

"One possible idea is for a couple of defibrillators - which are things every town should have and we might do that in tandem with the Village Society.

Councillor Martin Love (Green, Shipley) praised Mr Ford for his efforts to promote local business.

"He's done lots of work and it would be a tragedy if all that collapses after David leaves," said Cllr Love.

"I'd encourage all the traders, a real cross-section and not just the shops, to get involved.

"This sort of community action group is only ever as strong as its numbers and can do really great things if plenty of people get involved."

The Totally Locally meeting to discuss projects which it might fund will take place upstairs at Fanny's Alehouse, Saltaire Road, on Wednesday, February 10, at 7.30pm.