The Millennium celebrations got off to a sparkling start last night as ethnic dancers and a choir helped launch Oxfordshire 2000, writes Karen Rosine.

Guests packed a room at the Zodiac nightclub, in Cowley Road, Oxford, to hear about the exciting celebrations planned.

Tish Francis, chairman of the project's board of directors, said: "We want to create something that we will all remember for a long time to come."

Oxfordshire 2000 received a £150,000 grant from the Millennium Commission. The Through the Looking Glass event will be held on July 1, 2000, at South Park, Oxford.

Three dimensional icons, internally lit by candles, will be carried in a procession through the park towards a central stage.

The finale will involve 2,000 schoolchildren, a massed choir of 1,000 voices and a specially-commissioned music score by Oxford composer Nick Bicat. There are also separate plans for the centre of Oxford to be closed for a 24-hour festival. Chris Cowley, Oxford Mail editor and director of Oxfordshire 2000, launched the Oxfordshire 2000 website. Bringing along a pewter time capsule, he said: "It is a legacy - people can put whatever they like into this and bury it in the grounds for future generations and that is really the theme for why we are creating our Oxfordshire 2000 website."

The website, on www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk, goes live today and is packed with information on Millennium events throughout the county.

Hugo Brunner, the Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire, launched the event, which also featured the choir of SS Mary and John School, east Oxford, and the Bugobo Dance Company.

Story date: Tuesday 18 May

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.