Singing, dancing and juggling are set to add up to a whole lot of maths fun in the centre of York tomorrow.

Schoolchildren from across the city will be helping to launch a series of events to mark Maths Year 2000, a national campaign to promote maths.

Children from Poppleton Road Primary School, long-practised in their fast-draw times-tables skills, will be challenging mathematical clown Mr Numbervator to a tables challenge in Parliament Street.

They will also be singing about their maths "strategy" to the tune of the Steps record Tragedy.

Staff from Oaken Grove Primary School's "maths caf" in Haxby will be lending a hand at Betty's Tea Room. The children developed their caf using maths skills and laid on maths games for guests to play while sipping their drinks.

There will also be appearances by juggler Rob Stone, from the University of York, in Parliament Street, as well as solo performances by Mr Numbervator (alias London teacher Isaac Anoom).

The whole show will be kicked off with a launch of balloons by children from all over York.

Event organiser Angela Feldon said it would mark the start of a series of maths-themed events which were all designed to show maths could be fun.

Veteran children's TV favourite Johnny Ball would be visiting the Grand Opera House in May or June for his Maths and Legends Roadshow, she said.

Later in the year there will be a Maths Festival in October, organised by York-based Mathemagic, who are doing lots of work for Maths Year 2000 nationally.

Competitions are also being run through schools, including one to design a puzzle for publication in the Evening Press in the autumn.

Angela, maths consultant with the City of York Council, said: "Maths Year 2000 is not just about children, we're trying to get the community involved and to show them how much fun maths can be.

"It is running alongside the Government's national numeracy strategy.

"Nobody admits it if they can't do reading or writing, but it's seen as quite acceptable for people to say they're not good at maths. This is about changing that."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.