A MAJOR celebration of a town's heritage is aiming to excite renewed interest in preserving it for the future.

Northallerton's first History Day takes place on Sunday, the culmination of a week-long millennium festival and the result of months of planning.

The event features a parade, living history displays, entertainment, exhibitions and a recreation of probably the town's biggest claim to historical fame, the 1138 Battle of the Standard.

The battle pitted the Normans against the Scots, with about 12,000 Scots losing their lives, halting the invasion of England.

The English army's formation around its standard was the inspiration for the phrase "rallying to the standard".

John Sheehan, chairman of the Northallerton and District Local History Society, which has organised the event, said: "I hope people will take away from the event a real feel for the history of the town and the county.

"They will get a fair spread of history of the area, the buildings and archaeology and the landscape and I hope it will lead to an enhanced interest in history and an involvement in conservation issues."

The history day was arranged as part of the town's millennium celebrations, but Mr Sheehan said if it proved a success they would look at holding an annual event, based around a commemoration of the Battle of the Standard.

The event starts with a parade through the town from 10am, with groups then heading either for the Applegarth for an encampment and drill and battle displays or the High Street for the battle re-enactment and sword, Caledonian and Morris dancers.

Local history groups are staging displays of their work in the town hall, with exhibitions at venues around the town including model railways, war games, crafts and books.