A ROLLING programme of aid for rural communities devastated by the foot-and-mouth crisis got under way yesterday.

The £75,000 scheme - launched by the Federation of Small Businesses - will involve a caravan touring market towns across North Yorkshire to give advice to people affected by the epidemic.

Business advisers, accountants, bank managers and debt counsellors were on hand in Thirsk yesterday. The roadshow will be moving on to Ryedale and the east coast in February and Skipton, Harrogate and York in March