Terms & conditions

Home	Contacts	Site map	Send a postcard	Search our site

Who we are Where has your Lottery money gone? Millennium Projects Millennium Awards Millennium Festival Millennium Encore Urban Cultural Programme UK School Games Millennium Experience Millennium Trust Newsroom Things to do, places to see Useful Links		Millennium Festival   New Year's Eve 1999 Over the First Weekend (as the New Year's Eve celebrations were known) 22 towns and cities around the UK held events, which involved over 4.5 million people in total. Some of the more unusual 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. London saw the opening ceremony at the Dome and the breathtaking Big Time festival event along the River Thames. One of the biggest Millennium Festival initiatives on New Year's Eve as 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. Bristol Kaleidoscope "The entertainment linked College Green, the new Centre and Queen Square, spreading the focus of the night's celebrations but at the same time igniting the centre of the city." Evening Post, 6 January 2000 Cardiff Calennig "City Hall was bathed in an ethereal glow, as young and old alike enjoyed the carnival atmosphere." South Wales Echo, 1 January 2000 Coventry Spirit of Coventry 2000 "It was high drama, great theatre, incredible suspense and for sheer entertainment value, beat everything else out of sight... But most people had eyes for only one thing - that narrow strip of wire high in the air." Evening Telegraph, 3 January 2000 Dundee Dundee's Millennium Dawn "It was a great way to bring in the new millennium the list of events we have had in Dundee has been very successful. We have had a great mixture of people in City Square, with entire families - the young and the elderly - and the firework display was truly spectacular." The Courier, 3 January 2000 Edinburgh Edinburgh's Hogmanay Millennium "Almost 200,000 revellers packed the streets below, cheering, clasping and kissing each other to welcome in the new year at Scotland's biggest street party. Edinburgh's Millennium Hogmanay exceeded all expectations. Evening News, 3 January 2000 Glasgow Glasgow's Hogmanay "Glasgow's first foot into the new millennium saw the city centre explode into a cacophony of cheers, kisses and even a few tears, as more than 100,000 revellers turned out for the biggest Hogmanay street party the city has ever hosted." The Herald, 1 January 2000 Inverness Inverness Highland Hogmanay "The Highlands danced and sang its way into the new millennium, led by celtic rockers Runrig belting out the appropriate Once in a Lifetime at the region's biggest party in Inverness." The Sunday Mail, 2 January 2000 Liverpool River of Light "Liverpool laid claim to the third largest party in Britain after London and Edinburgh, with an estimated 150,000 people flocking to the centre... The Mersey was bathed in light as lasers beamed icons of the city's past and future on to screens of water sprayed into the air." The Sunday Telegraph, 2 January 2000 Manchester Manchester's Coming Home "The outstanding success of Manchester's millennium parade in attracting around 20,000 revellers could mean it becomes an annual event." South Manchester Express, 7 January 2000 Newcastle Countdown 2000 "...then the midnight celebrations and the waterfall of the Tyne Bridge. If felt proud to be from the region, proud to live here, proud to be part of the crowds I had seen as we entered this exciting new age." The Journal, 3 January 2000 Nottingham The Spirit of Nottingham "Thousands of revellers flooded into Nottingham's Old Market Square to witness the historic dawn of the new millennium." Nottingham Evening Post, 1 January 2000 Plymouth Reflections - Past, Present & Future "Above all, I will never forget the Band of the Royal Marines Beating Retreat on New Year's Eve as the sun set on the Hoe. It was incredibly moving, and a fitting way to say goodbye to the 20th Century. Evening Herald, 3 January 2000 Sheffield Cityscape 2000 "It's great to see the Peace Gardens used for a fantastic event like this. The people of Sheffield have cherished the new heart of Sheffield and it looks magnificent." The Star, 1 January 2000 Swansea Swansea 2000 "Swansea's Lord Mayor Bob Lloyd release 2,000 balloons and attached to each were tags with images created by Swansea schoolchildren." The Evening Post, 3 January 2000 Londonderry Derry - Living our Lives "The programme of events sent out a message of unity and partnership. It showed the city at its best and represented everything that was strong about Derry. It achieved something very special indeed." Derry Journal, 4 January 2000 London Big Time "As Big Ben struck midnight, water turned to flames when the biggest pyrotechnic display in the world exploded over the River Thames. More than a million people jammed along the banks of the river looked skywards, enthralled by the unfolding spectacle." The Guardian, 1 January 2000

© Millennium Commission 2003