A THOUSAND years of Durham county and diocese will be celebrated at a special Millennium service on Sunday.

The public service, at Durham Cathedral, will be introduced by the Dean of Durham, the Very Reverend John Arnold, with a sermon given by the Bishop of Durham, the Right Reverend Michael Turnbull.

Included will be a series of readings reflecting the spirit of the county past, present and future.

Among the readers will be secondary pupils Adam Carter, of Tudhoe Grange School, and Jo Oldham, of Wolsingham School, who will represent the county's future, reading passages from American travel writer Bill Bryson's impressions of his first visit to Durham.