A revolutionary diving suit made in Silsden is on the way to being a world-beater by being named as a Millennium Product which could be displayed in the Millennium Dome.

Waiting for a train on a cold winter's day gave Silsden man Paul Child the idea for the new dry suit which he expects will become half of his firm's growing sales thanks to the accolade.

The lining of his Snugpack outdoor jacket, made by nearby firm Brett Harris Limited, kept Mr Child so warm while waiting at Silsden Station last February he had the bright idea of using it in a diver's dry suit.

The idea grew and now he has set up Weezle Diving Services which designs and markets the Microdive Suit which has been chosen as one of 200 products produced by firms throughout the UK to be given the Design Council award.

He gave up his job with Bradford-based MG Packaging - part of the British Mohair group - to set up the firm of which he and his wife, Hilary, are co-directors.

Millennium Product Awards have also been made to three other Bradford area companies. They are: J Wood, the Manningham Lane music store and manufacturer for its pipeless organ which can replicate the sound of several different historic instruments; Lindapter International, based in Brackenbeck Road, for its steel cavity fixing connectors; and Cleckheaton-based Ferno Ltd for its easy transfer chair which helps move people with disabilities.

Weezle entered the Millennium Awards along with Silsden-based Brett Harris Limited which trades under the Snugpack name which makes the dry suit Mr Child designed.

And on Thursday all the Millennium Product winners will be told which goods will be displayed in the Millennium Dome at Greenwich when firms receive awards at the Foreign Office from Foreign Office Minister Derek Fatchett.

"Winning the Millennium product will have the effect of really boosting our exports which are already growing and it could be that exports form 50 per cent of our sales in the next few months," he said.

The firm, which has only been going a year, has seen its sales double every month since it was started because of the success of the product.

It now sells the Microdive Suit in Sweden, Norway, Germany, Holland, Spain and the USA.

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