THE millennium bug appears to arrived in Ilkley well before the big day finally dawns.

However, we are not talking about the hassle of changing a large number of computers.

The question of how to celebrate the millennium has been debated at great length, and caused councillors to vent their frustration at the lack of progress being made.

Sad to say, this occasion of enormous religious, historical and cultural significance is becoming a bit of a pain in the rear end. In fact, the lack of progress is causing residents to become increasingly fed up as the clock continues to count down.

One reader phoned the Gazette this week to deplore the town's attitude towards the millennium. 'Bitty projects' as she described them, would simply become eyesores which future generations would have to maintain.

While this may not be the view of everyone, the 'bitty' mentality appears to be rife.

The issue of Ilkley Parish Council's contribution was seemingly resolved this week with the adoption of a millennium mugs scheme.

Not so. While a mug may be a delightful gift for certain youngsters, there must be some sympathy with Coun Gibbons' claim that such an idea for the children of the late 1990s is indeed 'old hat'.

Something is better than nothing but the time spent on this issue by councillors (seemingly a minority of councillors) should have resulted in a grander idea than mugs.

Before the howls of protest begin from parish councillors who have come up with the scheme, they do have the defence that the parish council as a whole was not prepared to raise a precept. No precept equals no money to pay for a grand scheme.

Coun Gibbons is also correct in noting the focus for the millennium. Should the celebrations not have a Christian theme? Only the Churches Together in Ilkley organisation seems to have recognised this fact - planning a number of Christian millennium events. How few others seem to have noticed the millennium's religious significance.

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