MAXIMUS Gluteus is on a mission to light up modern Eboracum this Christmas.

The Roman soldier, alias Keith Mulhearn of the Eboracum Legion Bathhouse in St Sampson's Square, is running a raffle to fill the coffers of the York Business Pride Christmas Lights Appeal.

Thanks to £5,000 donations each from City of York Council, GNER and York Business Pride, the count currently stands at about £16,000, just over half-way towards the £30,000 target.

The raffle follows a successful fundraising day in St Sampson's Square last Saturday, which drew crowds of parents and children for a series of Roman army displays by Maximus Gluteus and his comrades.

Mr Mulhearn said: "It was a really good day. We raised £220, which is a good start, but we hope the raffle will raise much, much more."

Ghostly actors from York Dungeon also took part, and Exploring Food donated the proceeds of three gastronomic tours.

Mr Mulhearn plans a Roman twist to the raffle draw, which will be made at the Bathhouse by Liz Page, managing director of York & County Press and chairwoman of York@Large, on Wednesday, October 13, at 12pm.

He explained that he would be adding a few booby prizes to spice up the raffle.

"At the gladiatorial games, the Roman emperor Elagabalus would often make a raffle draw by floating the paper prize-slips across the arena.

"The crowd would then clamber over each other to catch a slip, not realising that some of the prizes were joke items," he said.

The £1 raffle tickets will be on sale at the Bathhouse museum from today until October 12.

Top prizes include family tickets to York Dungeon, worth £25 each, and an admission voucher for two adults to Jorvik Viking Centre, worth £14.40.

Mr Mulhearn said he hoped other businesses would donate prizes.

He said: "We need to keep the momentum going for this Christmas lights appeal and then, hopefully, we will manage to hit the target."

Time is ticking by in the quest for enough money to give York a dazzling Christmas.

Ian Tempest, of the council's economic development unit, is hopeful that the £30,000 target will be reached.

"We are making some headway now, I hope we will hit the target in time," said Mr Tempest, who listed Woollons Brothers, Christmas Angels of York and MOR Music as recent contributors to the fund.

Updated: 09:45 Saturday, October 02, 2004