NEW Year's Eve in Southampton promises to be an occasion to remember as it celebrates the end of the first year of the new millennium with a spectacular festival.

The festival will end in a Carnival of Lights and the lighting of a beacon to welcome in 2001.

A variety of entertainment will be on offer throughout the day, with highlights including exhibitions, and living history events.

A torchlit procession from the Bargate will take place at about 11pm, culminating in a "son et lumiere" display projected on the Old Town Walls and the De Vere Hotel's glass atrium.

For a free factsheet about how to make a lantern for the procession or to put together a costume for the parade, call 023 8083 2277.

* For more about the New Year's Eve celebrations, see this Friday's What's On in the Daily Echo.