POPPIES flutter down at the end of last night's Festival of Remembrance at the Barbican Centre in York. Festival chairman Ted Griffiths told the 1,400-strong sell-out audience that it could be the last festival at the Barbican because of uncertainty over the venue's future.

Servicemen and women past and present joined together in York last night for the 13th Festival of Remembrance - and were told that it could be the last such event in the city.

A sell-out audience of 1,400 people at the Barbican Centre enjoyed the annual event, which was a mixture of roof-raising musical celebration and a moving remembrance for the human sacrifices made during times of war.

Festival chairman Ted Griffiths said in his welcoming speech that the sale of the Barbican had at first put this year's festival in doubt.

He said: "With regard to future festivals we shall not know the answer until we meet with the new owners.

"I have been told this auditorium is to be revamped and possibly be finished by next September.

"However, I have my doubts and it is more than likely this will be our last Festival of Remembrances to be held here."

The news did not dampen the spirits of the singers and musicians who this year included for the first time the York Sea Cadet Band along with The Normandy Band of the Queen's Division, Backworth Male Voice Choir, York Festival Ladies Choir, soloists Janina Sweetenham and Eileen Lavender, and narrator John White.

There was a parade of standard bearers representing a number of organisations, including the Royal British Legion, the Royal Naval Association, the Royal Air Forces' Association, the Green Howards Association and the Scarborough College Combined Cadet Force.

There was also a surprise presentation to festival producer Brian Coates by Lord Crathorne, the Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire and patron of the North Yorkshire County Royal British Legion, on behalf of the National Executive of the Poppy Appeal.

Mr Coates was presented with a certificate of appreciation and a poppy brooch for his hard work during the past 13 years.

Before the festival, Mr Griffiths, who was called up to the Army in 1939, said: "It is a moving ceremony, especially for those who have lost loved ones during war, including those from Iraq.

"I'm a strong believer in having this remembrance. People seem to forget what atrocities we have to go through during war when you have lost loved ones. Even at the age of 84 it still makes me think about what happened all those years ago."

Unfortunately, he said, there was no where else big enough in York if they lost the Barbican Centre.

Updated: 10:37 Monday, November 03, 2003