SAD to report that in this of all weeks, all is not sweetness and divine light among York's ghost walking fraternity.

Hallowe'en is fast approaching and we are slap bang in the middle of the city's first Ghost Festival.

It should be a time when spooky storytellers put rivalries aside and come together for the common good.

And that was exactly the idea behind an event tonight. At Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate, Harry Martindale will talk about the night when he witnessed the "return" of the missing Roman Legion IX at Treasurer's House in the Fifties.

He famously saw their spectral forms float through the floor of the Treasurer's House.

That will be followed by a "storytellathon" when members of various York ghost tours will spin spinechilling yarns.

But organiser of the event, Roman tour guide Keith Mulhearn, is disappointed by what he says is a disunity among the ranks.

While representatives from the York Dungeon and five ghost tours - the Original, the Trail, the Detective, Phantom Footsteps and Dead Dick - are all taking part, the Ghost Hunt of York, run by Andy Dextrous, is not.

"Everyone is involved except Andy. He's too scared to turn up. I think he's a big girl," Keith fumed.

But Andy rejects this. "That would be a lie," he said.

"The only reason we are not there is we are absolutely inundated with private bookings.

"We haven't got anyone free to go along."

Let's hope relations improve soon. The last thing we want are things going thump in the night.

Some tickets are still available on the door for Keith's ghost spree at the Holy Trinity tonight, price £5.

Meanwhile Andy is promising some extra effects on his Hallowe'en ghost tour this Sunday. Just turn up on the night.

JOHN Peel was from Liverpool, went to Shrewsbury public school, had his big break in Texas, found fame at the BBC in London and lived near Ipswich.

But the legendary broadcaster, who died yesterday aged 65, did call by York on at least one occasion.

Together with fellow Radio 1 DJ Jimmy Savile, he hosted a day-night music event at the York Railway Institute gymnasium in the late Sixties.

As a 20-year-old music fan, Richard Wells went along and met the great man. John was very different from the boisterous Savile, said Richard, of Milson Grove, York.

"He was certainly dour compared to Jimmy Savile, who I think might have had tartan hair at the time," he said.

"John Peel introduced some of the bands. There was a band I distinctly remember called Eclection. I have looked them up on the Internet but couldn't find anything."

Bands including The Move and Status Quo played on half a dozen platforms in the gym.

But the cavernous venue, coupled with a fluctuating level of attendance, was not a hit with the DJ.

"John Peel made a comment on the fact that it was a bit like a cattle market because it was so big and there were so few people in it at one time."

John Peel was once interviewed by the Evening Press. In the article 14 years ago, he revealed he felt extraordinarily lucky.

"I'll just potter on doing what I like doing," he said. "I'll do it until they tell me to **** off."

Updated: 09:05 Wednesday, October 27, 2004