a major fund-raising gala to be held in Bermuda on December 31, 1999.

The party will be one of 30 to be held worldwide by the Scottish-registered charity Millennial Foundation in celebration of the year 2000.

Bermuda, along with 29 other places, was chosen based on its global historic interest or sites where funds can be put to good use for environmental heritage or charity purpose.

Breaking through the world's time zones, the parties will span the globe starting in Fiji and ending on the other side of the International Date Line at Cook Islands.

Bermuda, which was chosen as the party site for the Atlantic Standard Time Zone, will also receive an hour of television coverage during a worldwide telethon to be held on December 31, 1999.

Details of the coverage have yet to be worked out, local party organiser Mrs.

Jane West said yesterday.

But Mrs. West said Bermuda will be promoted, as the parties will receive worldwide publicity, from now until 1999.

PALS will receive the funds raised from the local party, said Mrs. West, who will be the chairman of the local steering committee.

"We hope this is the biggest, happiest party that Bermuda has ever had,'' PALS president Mrs. Ann Smith Gordon said. "We are inviting everyone to come.'' The idea for the parties started in 1988 on a beach in Tahiti. The late Mr.

Michael Wadsworth -- husband of international organiser Mrs. Audrey Mason-Wadsworth -- noted that on December 31, 1999, Tahiti would be the centre of the universe because it was going to be one of the first two places in the world to celebrate the arrival of the new millennium, the other being Fiji. He also noted that the Cook Islands would be one of the last.

From that idea, the Wadsworths formed a company, Millennium 2000 Ltd., to set up a special charter global trip to celebrate the arrival of the year 2000.

But Mrs. Mason-Wadsworth said the project did not really get off the ground until after Mr. Wadsworth's death in 1992. She said she was then determined to organise the project in her husband's memory.

In addition to the Fiji and Cook Island parties, there will also be a round-the-world trip leaving the UK in mid-December 1999 and arriving in Fiji on December 31 to celebrate the first arrival of the Millennium. The flight will then go to Cook Islands to celebrate the last point of arrival. It will then fly on to Tuscon, Arizona and Washington D.C., and return to the UK.

The Fiji and Cook Islands parties are being sold in the UK for $2,767 per person and the four week round-the-world trip cost $13,207 per person.

The trustees for the Foundation are Mrs. Mason-Wadsworth, Lady Elizabeth Anson, photographer Lord Patrick Lichfield, Sir Magnus Magnusson KBE, and Mr.

Richard Heywood.

chairman of the Millennial Foundation Mrs. Audrey Mason-Wadsworth and Mrs.

Jane West of PALS.