LAST year they served up the ghost of Christmas past with a Victorian Fair to remind Eastleigh folk that the main message of December 25 was the birth of Christ rather than the modern day commercialism of the season.

Now, the ten Christian churches of Eastleigh are banding together again to turn the clock back to the Second World War to celebrate a 1940s Christmas with a Daily Echo-backed event.

Last year's programme led to the churches being able to donate more than £500 to the Mayor of Eastleigh's charity appeal.

Now, Churches Together are hoping that the 1940s Christmas - earmarked for Saturday, December 11 - will prove to be an even bigger charity moneyspinner.

Ian Hayes-Anderson, the associate minister at Eastleigh Baptist Church, said: "We plan to have another street market between 12 noon and 3pm outside the Swan Centre and everybody will be dressing up again.

"We really want people to know that Christianity is actually fun and is not a boring, locked away type of thing. It's about being in the community and with the community. I think we achieved that last year - people were talking about it for months."

This year's event will also feature a tour of the town by a Salvation Army band and singers from Churches Together plus performances of Scrub That Manger by the Top Cat Theatre Company at 2pm and 4pm in the Leigh Road Ballroom.

Organisers are hoping to have military vehicles from the period on parade while the Daily Echo will be providing reproduction newspapers of the period for sale in a bid to help swell the charity coffers.