"SAY, cheese,'' - that was the message to all the residents of the village of Titchfield when they gathered together for a huge photograph which will help mark the new millennium.

Titchfield History Society was delighted with the turnout after urging as many villagers as pos-sible to gather in The Square last Saturday for the historic photograph.

The photo was all part of a wide-ranging programme of events and activities the society has put together aimed at recording a year in the life of Titchfield.

"It is to be a sort of modern day Domesday Book which will com-bine a census, photographic album, details of local houses and businesses and even the kind of items that make up an ordinary shopping basket for local people,'' said a spokesman for the society.

"Once all this information has been compiled we hope that we will be able to lodge it in the county archives in Winchester where it will be used as a data base on Titchfield in the years ahead.

"It will be a kind of snapshot of life in 1999.

"To start the project we asked as many inhabitants as possible to meet up in the Square to pose for a group photo-graph, recreating an old picture taken about 1890 of locals dressed up for the carnival.''

Other proposed millennium projects happening in Titchfield include:

The creation of a six-panel tapestry telling the story of Titchfield from Saxon times

Completion of the planned youth block at the community centre

Regeneration of Barry's Meadow open space

Restoration of the church clock chimes

Construction of a monument to celebrate Titchfield's maritime heritage

Provision of an adventure play area for older children

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.