The delivery of 25 i-Macs took on a festive mood when the colourful collection arrived. No, it was not an early Christmas present from Apple but the arrival of the key part of the workstations that parents will be using in schools for the Millennium Awards Scheme that is now underway.

The first 100 parents to receive awards will be decided this week. They all have children in local schools. In groups of 5, they will undertake local history projects for a period of 8 months during which time they will receive training and support from the METG Millennium Awards Team in a range of multimedia and Web techniques. The outcomes of the projects undertaken by parents will be made available to the local community via the Web.

The Millennium Awards Scheme is co-directed by Professor Tom Vincent and Roger Kitchen, General Manager, The Living Archive.