A VIDEO of this year's celebrations marking the 750th anniversary of Bedale's market charter will be available before Christmas.

The hour-long video, costing £9.95, is expected to go on sale in the town next week. Covering about 20 events, from the festival service in May to the firework finale on November 3, it will have a commentary by Mr Andy Kluz of Tyne Tees Television.

The video, A Celebration of Bedale 750, is being produced by Swaledale Video Productions in collaboration with Bedale 750. "We did the final shots at the splendid firework display at the beginning of this month," said Bedale 750 publicity officer Mr Ralph Robinson, who is working on the video with Mr Andy Warboys. "Since then, we have been editing 13 hours of footage down to one hour."

Included are the medieval market and fair, the scout and guide gala, Bedale brass band, celebrity cricket with Emmerdale stars, the teddy bears' picnic, the vintage car rally, an evening with Darren Gough and Bedale festival choir's concert with the St Cecilia orchestra.

"We've had tremendous co-operation from people who appear on the video," said Mr Robinson. "This, together with help on the technical side, has helped to keep costs down. The project aims to cover its costs," said Mr Robinson. "Any excess of income over expenditure will go towards providing a permanent memento of the festival for Bedale.

"There will be an initial run of 300 copies. More will be ordered if necessary. Quite a number of people have already ordered copies."

Orders can be placed at Taylor's newsagents in Bedale.