COMMUNITY organisations across Keighley have joined forces to help people who are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.

A new publication has been produced which contains a wide range of information.

It includes details of where people can access advice and support with issues such as debt management, benefits, health and wellbeing, food, immigration and addiction. All the contact links are 01535 landline numbers.

There are recipes for healthy, low-cost family meals, created by Keighley Healthy Living using ingredients based on food bank staples.

And the publication features fun activities for children.

Illustrations are by artist Rebecca Buchanan, graphic design by Lee Goater and photographs by Bob Smith.

Open Door also includes inspirational stories from people now providing support services in Keighley, who have themselves experienced poverty. One contributor describes how she had to contact organisations herself when her family was struggling to make ends meet, and now uses her experiences to help others.

Arts charity Keighley Creative led production of the Open Door publication in a project which also involved organisations including the Bangladeshi, Eden, Hainworth Wood and Highfield community associations; Keighley Healthy Living; the town's Salvation Army; Keighley Pathways; Worth Valley Food Bank; the Good Food Shop; Sangat Centre and Keighley Association for Women and Children Centre.

The publication is available from community centres, and copies are being distributed at Asda and Morrisons supermarkets by members of the production team.

Alternatively, people can email admin@keighleycreative.org

Aimee Grundell, who headed up production of Open Door, says: "As the cost-of-living crisis continues, we became increasingly aware that a lot of support services that were being promoted were either national or Bradford focused. Phone numbers for urgent help often put people through to call centres or to someone quite removed from Keighley.

"We wanted to help by providing a friendly 'hello' and clear information on how to directly find support within the town itself. There are lots of resources and helpful people in Keighley, it’s just about knowing how to access them.

"Keighley organisations have tried to take a different approach to supporting the community and hopefully we can help ensure that local people don’t encounter closed doors or have their time wasted."

The project has been funded by some of the organisations involved, together with Bradford Council, Citizens Advice, the Department for Work and Pensions, Feeding Bradford and Keighley, The Healthy Growth Initiative, the JAMES Project and Keighley area co-ordinator's office.

* The production team will be joined by staff from the area co-ordinator’s office to hand out copies of the publication at Asda, in Bingley Street, Keighley, this Friday (June 7) between 10.30am and 3pm.