A MAN who says he may not be alive in the year 2000 has made a heart-warming gesture to ensure that young people in the Bury area will celebrate the Millennium in style.

Mr Ronald Morris, 87, has given a donation of £5 to help Melvin Magnall achieve his dream of an ambitious Millennium sailing trip to the USA in the summer of 2000.

Melvin is spearheading the £900,000 project to retrace the voyage of Tottington Quaker Henry Wood who emigrated to America in 1682 to escape religious persecution.

He and his family later founded Woodbury in New Jersey which will welcome hundreds of Bury visitors who are to travel by air and sea for the Millennium celebrations.

At a recent public meeting in Radcliffe to drum up support, the audience was told that the full cost of the project would be met if every man, woman and child in Bury gave £5 a head.

Now Mr Morris, founder of Radcliffe Boys' Club, has taken that literally to heart and his donation has firmly set the financial ball rolling. "I am very interested in what Melvin is doing," said Mr Morris, of Bury Road, Radcliffe. "Here's someone who is willing to do something for the world for a change. When I heard that the full cost of the trip could be paid if everyone gave £5, I decided to give my money."

Mr Morris says he may not even be alive when the sailing trip takes place.

"At the age of 87, you're on a day's notice," he says. "But I suppose if I'm still around by then, I'd be interested in perhaps going over to the USA myself."

He believes two ancestors named Morris were among the signatories to the American Constitution.

"I tried to sort it out but was told there were no records of who these two men actually were."

Mr Morris, a former Mayor of Radcliffe, formed Radcliffe Boys' Club in 1971. He is president and management committee representative of the organisation, which today is known as Radcliffe Girls' and Boys' Club.

His gesture has delighted Melvin Magnall, who is involved in planning the sailing trip aboard a replica 1725 ship. It will be crewed by up to 40 young people from the Bury area.

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