COUPLES in Warrington have been getting the Millennium bug - but it isn't their computers that are affected.

The town's Cairo Street Methodist Chapel has reported a 200 per cent rise in the number of people wanting to get married next year.

The Rev Chris Goacher said: "I think the Millennium is making people think about their future and want some spiritual relevance in their lives. It's also possibly to do with the new outlook within our church, which people are realising is now more outreaching and open.

"I minister at another chapel in Ashton-in-Makerfield and although there is a rise there too, it is nothing like the interest we have seen at Cairo Street which is quite startling."

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.