VETERAN producer Brian Coates is not superstitious, touch wood.

He did have reservations, however, when he realised this Sunday's ceremony would be his 13th time in charge of the York Festival of Remembrance.

"I began to wonder whether these reservations were justified when two of the York Ladies singing group and their accompanist advised that they were not available, and when the top-of-the-bill attraction, the Normandy Band of The Queen's Division, was ordered out to Iraq," recalls Brian.

"Thankfully, the band has returned safely, the York Ladies have recruited replacements, and advance bookings are heavy, so perhaps 13 will prove 'lucky for some'."

The York branch of the Royal British Legion will stage its annual Festival of Remembrance at the Barbican Centre on Sunday at 7.30pm, when the festival will recall the events of 60 years ago. "Monty's forces were victorious in North Africa and then went on to land in Sicily and Italy," says Brian. "Mussolini was deposed and placed under arrest; the menace of the U-boat was finally overcome; on the Eastern front, the Russian forces broke out of the besieged city of Stalingrad and counterattacked; and Lancaster bombers from 617 Squadron carried out the dam-busters raid on the Mohne and Eder dams."

The Normandy Band's repertoire will include Elgar, Grieg and regimental marches, while the Backworth Male Voice Choir will travel from the North East for its third appearance at the festival. Joining together with the band and soloists, the choir will sing The Battle Hymn Of The Republic.

Soloist Janina Sweetenham is making a habit of singing with military bands, having sung previously with the Coldstream Guards, Royal Marines, and Yorkshire Volunteers, as well as the Normandy Band. She also has appeared at the London Palladium with the Band of the Scots Guards.

In further highlights, Eileen Lavender's York Ladies will recall Songs To Remember, with Don Pears at the piano; the younger generation will be represented by the Band of the York Sea Cadet Corps; and at the other end of the age scale, Brian Coates's Old Codger character will have some tales to tell.

The narrator will be the York actor and director John White, who took the stage name of Richard Conway in his days with the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre Company. The festival will close in the traditional manner with a Service of Remembrance and The Silence in memory of the fallen as the poppy petals fall.

Tickets are on sale at £8, £7 and £6 on 01904 656688.

Updated: 08:58 Friday, October 31, 2003