ALLIED troops will be storming a beach in Morecambe this September.

They will be racing towards guns fired by a crack force of Germans defending the resort's promenade in a one-off battle on the sands.

But no-one will be in any danger in this invasion a recreation of the D-Day landings by forces on the beaches of Normandy in 1944.

The battle scenario will be one of the centrepieces of the Poulton Heritage Festival, a three-day celebration of the 60th anniversary of D-Day incorporating a 1940s weekend involving virtually everyone in Poulton-le-Sands.

Billed as The Big One', the event has been more than a year in the planning but has only now got the go-ahead for its beach battle.

Chairman Steve Saunders says: "We are now quite confident this is going to be just about the biggest event this town has ever seen. Many other places are doing D-Day celebrations but this is the only one with a beach and so everyone wants to be here.

"We have had to put a ceiling of 200 on the number of military vehicles people are bringing it is incredible."

Not so long ago, things did not look so rosy for the event, though. Applications for grant aid from Lancaster City Council and Poulton Neighbourhood Management were both refused and the beach battle was under threat.

But the Countryside Agency an arm of the National Lottery local heritage initiative stepped in with money to rescue the festival.

Steve says: "The agency came in with £23,000 which has enabled us to do all the things that we had planned but seemed beyond our dreams."

The festival will begin on Friday, September 10, as military vehicles including tanks, half-tracks, lorries, jeeps and guns begin arriving in Morecambe.

Homes and shops will be decorated' with camouflage nets and sandbags to lend extra authenticity to the scene.