HERE'S your chance to look back on 2,000 years of local history in the new Millennium.

Preston's Museum of Lancashire hosts AD 2000, a multimedia exhibition allowing visitors to experience Lancashire in Medieval times, enter a reconstructed Quaker meeting house, or hide in a priest hole. AD 2000, which opens tomorrow, is intended to show how religion and religious life have helped shape Lancashire's history.

Funding came from the Heritage Lottery Fund award scheme which gave the museum £90,000 for the programme. Lancashire County Council chairman, Ruth Henig, will host an opening ceremony with top TV star Lloyd Grossman due to do the honours.

Dr Henig said: "It is a great honour for me to be chairman of the county council at the dawning of a new millennium.

"The historic milestone is a fitting time to look back at the past 2000 years of Lancashire's history.

"The exciting AD 2000 exhibition will tell the story of Christianity in Lancashire with an amazing collection of artefacts normally hidden from public view.

"The Museum of Lancashire has been turned over to this unique collection, with hands-on displays, actors in period costume and the latest in audio-visual technology. It is sure to be a memorable day out for the whole family."

The exhibition will be open Monday to Saturday, from 10.30am to 5pm. Admission is £2 for adults, concession £1 and free entry for children.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.