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Celebrating the year 2000
The year 2000 was memorable for cities, towns and communities all over the UK with celebrations, events and activities involving around 20 million people!  The Millennium Commission wanted to help communities celebrate the new millennium by funding more than just parties, which probably would have happened without money from the Lottery. Working with other Lottery distributors it created a Millennium Festival fund of over £100 million, which was promoted by the New Millennium Experience Company using sponsorship. The Festival engaged millions of people from all backgrounds and left a lasting legacy across the UK. The year 2000 saw over 2,000 Millennium Commission funded festivals taking place. Pageants, carnivals, parades, exhibitions, performances and fairs were held from Shetland Isles in the North to Cornwall in the South, and from Fermanagh in the West to Suffolk in the East. There was something for everyone with a mix of activities featuring the arts, heritage, the environment, science and technology and much more besides. Over 500 artefacts from the Millennium Festival, including photos, videos and works or art, are now kept at the V&A museum in London. To find out what events took place during the year 2000 go to our searchable database.  New Year's Eve 1999
On New Year's Eve 1999, towns and cities around the UK held major events, which involved over 4.5 million people. Some of the highlights of the celebrations included: a hair-raising 300-metre high wire walk between two church spires in Coventry; a string quartet suspended over the crowd in Newcastle; an open air ice rink in Aberdeen; a bridge of light across the River Mersey in Liverpool and a Millennium Time Tunnel under the Lagan Weir in Belfast. One of the biggest Millennium Festival initiatives on New Year's Eve was the UK-wide Beacon Millennium Project, which saw HM the Queen lighting the world's biggest beacon in London. The giant beacon was one of a chain of 1,400 beacons lit across the country beginning in the Scottish Isles and moving down the country to include giant beacons in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.
Click here to see all the New Year's Eve 1999 events.  New Year's Eve 2000
December 31st 2000 saw over 5.5 million people enjoying the biggest ever day-long New Year's Eve celebrations the UK had ever seen. Nearly £6 million of Millennium Commission Lottery money funded events across the UK from Inverness to Plymouth. Thirty-two towns and cities across the UK hosted over 200 hours of festivities including a beach run in Blackpool, a world record sing-a-long attempt in Manchester, an inflatable Carmen Miranda in Newham and the UK's biggest tea dance in Plymouth! Click here to find out what celebrations took place on New Year's Eve 2000.  The Festival Impact
An impact study on the Millennium Festival carried out by Gardiner and Theobald and Jura consultants in 2001 highlighted the positive impact the Millennium Festival had on the UK. It found that: - over 80% of the larger Festivals created full-time employment;
- almost 95% of Festivals received assistance from volunteers which equated to 339,000 hours of labour and £3.2 million;
- more than 20% of Festivals increased local business activity;
- Millennium Commission grants were a factor in levering funding from other sources;
- 95% of Festival organisers thought that their event had strengthened links within the community;
- 88% of Festivals increased community pride;
- communities throughout the UK were mobilised and involved;
- there were high levels of community integration; and
- organisers and volunteers benefited from significant personal development opportunities.
Click here to see the full study.
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