Burley-in-Wharfedale's millennium committee has taken delivery of celebration mugs for village youngsters but there is one problem - there is no room to store them.

Committee member Tom Sumner is delighted the village is ready to mark the dawning of a new age but he does not want to be left with more mugs than he can handle.

Mr Sumner said: "We have received 600 china mugs which will go on sale to villagers on January 1, 1999.

"We also have 1,700 earthenware mugs which will be distributed to every child in the village (aged up to 16) in the Year 2000."

Mr Sumner and his millennium colleagues realise they have set themselves quite a challenge.

"We want to make sure that every youngster in the village gets one of these mugs. How we actually achieve that is still to be worked out.

"Obviously we can go through the schools for a lot of the names and perhaps the electoral roll," he said.

Mr Sumner is looking at starting a millennium mug register but hopes word of mouth will eventually ensure every child receives a mug.

"We have the mugs but we urgently, and I stress urgently, need somewhere to store them," he said.

Mr Sumner does not feel he can live for the next 16 months surrounded by 40 boxes.

"It needs to be somewhere dry and secure, preferably in the Burley-in-Wharfedale area," he said.

The mugs are just part of the millennium committee's scheme to really mark the Year 2000.

The next millennium fundraiser will be a 1970s disco, held at the Queen's Hall on Saturday October 3 (8pm-midnight).

Anybody who has the space to store Burley-in-Wharfedale's millennium mugs or wants to buy a disco ticket should contact Mr Sumner on 01943 862940.

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