the Cultural Affairs Minister has promised.

Terry Lister announced that the month and parade's respective themes, "The Spirit of Bermuda'' and "The Spirit of Bermuda: Millennium Moments'', will cause reflection among Bermudians.

"They cause us to reflect and pause on all that makes us proud Bermudian people,'' Mr. Lister said.

"The themes we have selected will call on everyone of us to reflect on our heritage and development and invoke us to look to the future boldly and creatively.'' Calling the themes "user-friendly'', Mr. Lister said entrants could pick any event in Bermuda's history to highlight -- or even pick a futuristic event.

And he promised in the new year formal communication with schools, churches, clubs, and other organisations giving guidelines about the themes.

The Cultural Affairs Department will also conduct its float building and decorating workshop earlier in the year to better influence float design.

And he admitted there had been a post mortem on the 1999 parade with several fine tuning adjustments planned for the 2000 event.

Cultural Affairs Officer Heather Wilson said: "We recognise that there were some of a couple of gaps in the flow this year.

"We recognise that Cedar Avenue is where there is some slowdown and that's why we have parade marshals. There's always a large crowd around there and people feel they have to stop and perform.'' She added that the Ministry will encourage float organisers to get their floats into the judging phase sooner.

Mr. Lister interjected: "What happens is they're up all night working on the float and they miss the judging!'' Parish councils will also be encouraged to enter floats in 2000, after none took part this year.

GOVERNMENT GVT