THE biggest party night of the year was a 'damp squib' in Okehampton say some residents who have accused the town of going backward rather than forward into the new century.

The town has been criticised for its lack of Millennium night celebrations. But former mayor Ray Vallance said the people only have themselves to blame for not responding to the public meetings three years ago.

Geoffrey and Miriam Penna said they had decided sometime ago to spend Millennium night in their home town but as they gathered with others near the church clock just before midnight, they found the clock out of action and the Christmas lights had gone off.

'The Christmas lights are absolutely beautiful in Okehampton but at midnight we were in total darkness,' she said. 'We were also hoping to hear the chimes of the clock, it makes such a lovely sound.

'The clock had not been working for several days and it is a shame it could not have been fixed in time. I think the Millennium in Okehampton was a bit of a damp squib.'

She said surely this was going backward not forward in the new century.

Father-of-two Paul George from Okehampton said he would have allowed his two young children to stay up for New Year if there had been an event happening in the town such as a street party.

'It would have been lovely to see the faces of the children as they watched the street performers and the Town Band at a street party organised by Okehampton Town Council, the Chamber of Trade and Okehampton OK, with food donated by local shops and drinks provided by the 11 landlords in the town,' he said.

'After all we have given them our custom all year and for one night it would have been nice to see the whole town come together for a change.'

'I find it so sad that this is what we have come to expect from Okehampton these days and I think it is a disgrace.'

He said if people had been approached six months ago, they would have been more keen to do something.

Cllr Ray Vallance said he organised several public meetings when he was Mayor in 1997 but there was hardly any response.

'We had representatives from several organisations but only a very few members of the public,' he said.

'Each meeting the attenders got less and less and in the end my enthusiasm died with the lack of response.'

He said it was always the case that the older people of the town were left with organising things.

'I was quite happy for someone else to take it on if they wanted,' he added.

Starting the ball rolling early was necessary, he said, in order for the town to put on something special.

Voluntary repairer of the clock, William Cornish, was away all over the Christmas period and was unable to fix it for the Millennium which he said was 'unfortunate.'

'The clock is highly sensitive to lightning and that is the normal reason it stops,' said Mr Cornish.

'There must have been a storm while I was away and not being here I could not attend to it.'

The logistics of changing the timer on the Christmas lights so they would be on at midnight was problematical, said Chamber of Trade member Derek Godfrey-Brown, because the switches were in 12 different business premises.

'A lot of these premises, who meet the costs of the electricity for the lights themselves, were closed between Christmas and New Year and trying to get the keys would have been difficult,' he said.

'My personal view is that there are a lot of people who make comments after the event but they are not prepared to stand up and be counted when it comes to doing the work.'

He said if Okehampton was to move forward in the new Millennium people needed to co-operate as a community more.

'It is a shame that nothing was organised for New Year's night but Mr Vallance tried exceedingly hard and had a proverbial punch on the nose from the community.'

Mr Godfrey-Brown added that talks were taking place to arrange a celebration in the summer which would be appropriate to the Millennium Year.