A TOURING exhibition aimed at helping rural businesses recover from the effects of foot-and-mouth begins a circuit of North Yorkshire market towns in January.

The mobile display unit was funded by a £40,000 grant from Yorkshire Forward to the Federation of Small Businesses, which has organised the tour. It aims to take advice and information out into rural areas for a six-month trial project which, if successful, could be extended to the whole of Yorkshire and the Humber.

Dales market towns are the venues for January, following the official launch of the service at Thornton-le-Moor, near Northallerton, yesterday. Mr Peter Pybus, of Thornton-le-Moor, agreed to tow the unit for the federation during January.

A spokesman for the federation said: "We got £40,000 towards this and several partners have provided their time, which brings the total cost of the project to about £80,000.

"We talked to a number of our members in market towns and rural areas who were affected by the foot-and-mouth crisis. They were aware that support and advice was available to businesses, but did not know where to find that help and did not have the time to devote to looking, so we said we would bring all the information out to them."

The exhibition unit has internet access to allow visitors to find information on-line, and Business Link's database of support organisations will be available. Representatives from a range of services, including the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Inland Revenue, accountants, planners and other professionals will also be on hand.

Venues during January are: 7 Thirsk; 9 Masham; 11 Easingwold; 15 Bedale; 16 Northallerton; 18 Richmond; 22 Hawes; 25 Leyburn; 28 Thirsk, and 30 Northallerton. The unit visits Easingwold on February 1.

It then tours the Ryedale and coastal areas in February and the Craven, York and upper Swaledale areas in March, including Reeth on the 8th, Ripon on the 14th and Boroughbridge on the 18th.

Posters with details will be displayed locally and further information is available from the Federation of Small Businesses on 01759 368740.