A TOWN is to unveil a plaque today to bring to a close celebrations of the 750th anniversary of its market charter.

Bedale was granted its market charter in 1251 by Henry III -and the town held a five-month-long festival in 2001 to mark the occasion.

But festival organisers wanted to create a more permanent reminder of the occasion - leading to the unveiling of the plaque at 9.15am today on the wall of Bedale Post Office.

John Weighell, chairman of the Bedale 750 committee and leader of North Yorkshire County Council, said: "We had the very successful all-summer event four years ago and we felt that we needed something that was going at last to commemorate it and to inform people.

"In a few years' time, people may not realise that Bedale had a market charter in 1251.

"The festival was organised to inform people but it was also about getting the community working together and doing things together. That summer, it worked extremely well."

The festival was organised by the Bedale 750 committee, which drew up a programme of more than 40 events using a budget of £30,000.

The committee is due to be wound up in the next few months after the last of the funds raised by the festival are distributed.

Most of the money has already been given out to good causes in the town. A significant donation has been given to the Bedale Four and Twenty education fund, which provides bursaries for deserving young people in Bedale and surrounding area.

Other donations include a medallion for the deputy mayor of Bedale and a contribution towards providing toilets in Bedale Hall Park.

Some of the funds being donated come from the sale of a video of the celebrations. All 500 copies of the video were sold and copies are now being given to Bedale Museum and the town's schools. It features 20 events from the festival including the visit by the Duke of York, the medieval market, the festival service, an Emmerdale cricket match and an evening with cricketers Darren Gough and Craig White.