LOTTERY chiefs today announced a £75,000 windfall to help fund Brighton and Hove's millennium celebrations.

The cash bonanza will be ploughed into the Place To Be project, which aims to kickstart the towns' bid for city status.

Together with £150,000 from Brighton and Hove Council and sponsorship from local businesses, it will pay for a range of initiatives leading up to the New Year and beyond.

Highlights include a quest to find the "100 Faces of Brighton" - ten people from each decade of the 20th century who represent all walks of life.

Today's announcement of lottery cash is the biggest among dozens to be made across Sussex.

Surf 107 broadcaster Simon Fanshawe, who devised the Place To Be project, thinks the handout is brilliant news.

He said: "This is going to be a year of fun and celebrations in Brighton and Hove. It is the start of something which will hopefully involve as many people as possible celebrating both the new millennium and the city we live in."

Council leader Lord Bassam added: "This is great news. We're talking about a year-long event to reflect on the past century and look forward to the new one."

He added that the aim was to create a new multi-media "Domesday Book" representing Brighton and Hove for the next 1,000 years.

The Argus reported on Friday how the organisers of the Place To Be project are appealing for local businesses to climb on board and mark the millennium in style.

Among the sponsorship opportunities will be the chance to fund a mobile tent which will allow passers-by to answer questions posed by local celebrities via a video screen.

New Year celebrations will kick off with a massive street party featuring bands and a range of outlandish performers across central Brighton and Hove.

oices

The flagship "100 Faces" initiative will climax with an exhibition of photos of one person from each decade of the 20th century. The same people will feature in double-page spreads in the Argus, and contribute their voices to specially set-up listening points throughout the towns.

By next summer, it is hoped the impact of Brighton and Hove's Millennium celebrations will lead to the towns' being granted city status by the Queen.

In addition to their £75,000 Place to Be grant, Brighton and Hove have also netted four other windfalls from the Millennium Festival Fund.

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