Historic links between the textile heritage of Bradford and Mirpur are being woven into a special ribbon to mark a year since the terrible earthquake in Kashmir.

People will be urged to wear them as a symbol of solidarity with the devastated region and of the shared heritage with Bradford district.

Woven through the fabric will be the words Threads of Life in both English and Urdu.

The logo was chosen by the Lord Mayor of Bradford Councillor Choudhary Rangzeb for his parade earlier this year.

The ribbons will be launched on October 8, the anniversary of the earthquake, and will be sold for £5 to raise cash for the Bradford Kashmir Earthquake Trust set up by Bradford Council.

The design was inspired by textile patterns given to Bradford in the 1870s.

And it has been woven on special Jacquard looms at weavers, Ezra T Lee in Parkwood Street, Keighley.

Each has to be hand-finished, involving pulling thread to make the fringe and fitting a diamond or ruby pin to the presentation card which has been published by Herbert Walker of Shipley.

Sixth-formers studying design at Thornton Grammar School, Bradford, have been recruited to help with the hand-finishing task along with textile students at Bradford College.

The Keighley company is also producing a batch of ties in the same material and ten special pashminah shawls which will be sold to help raise cash towards the appeal.

The project was sparked into life by textile historian Ruth Caswell, of Oakworth, near Keighley, who recruited her designer daughter Amy May to work on the project.

Mrs Caswell said she was inspired by the desire to keep the plight of the Kashmiri people in the public eye. She said: "I asked what we could do to make people engage with the Kashmiris - see who they are, what they do and what we owe them.

"I wanted people to identify with them and not see them as just a faceless group. The links with Bradford and Keighley go back well into the 1800s.

"It was textiles that made this area, not religion or politics, and we should be proud of our textile heritage. If we don't understand that, we don't understand where we have come from.

"I knew we had the expertise and experience in Keighley to produce it - this is not a piece of marketing, it is a beautiful crafted article.

"The title Threads of Life relates to the textile link that binds the city and the need to rebuild the warp and weft of the society in Kashmir after the earthquake."

She had started the project on a wing and a prayer' but it had been taken up by City Hall and others had offered their time voluntarily.

Councillor Rangzeb said the ribbon was a symbol of the ties between the Bradford area and Kashmir. He said: "There is a very large Kashmiri community in Bradford district and we have a friendship link with Mirpur, which is aiming to further promote those links."

The Lord Mayor's parade paid tribute to the wealth which came out of Bradford through its textile industry of the 18th and 19th century and in the Threads of Life passing down through the generations of Bradford people working in the mills.

The money raised will be banked with Kashmir Earthquake Appeal, which is expected to get approval shortly from the Charity Commission after minor amendments were dealt with, said a Council spokesman.

e-mail: clive.white@bradford.newsquest.co.uk