A CHOIR will serenade people before the MP unveils a new sign to mark the history of a ‘forgotten’ part of Bournemouth.

Wessex Chorus will perform as a lottery funded village sign is revealed on Pokesdown Green during a day-long celebration.

Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellwood will do the honours at 1pm on Saturday, August 18.

The 14-foot high sign will carry the seal of the former Pokesdown Urban District Council.

Residents have been fighting to mark the area’s history, which goes back to 1580 and predates Bournemouth.

Wessex Chorus Musical Director Martin Arthur said: “This is the first time we have been invited to join such a major local event.

“It will be a big day for us – and a big day for Pokesdown!”

The event runs from 11.30am to 4pm and there will be more than 20 stalls.

Attractions include vintage clothes and goods, vintage steam engines and cars, charity stalls, homemade cakes and more.

From 12.15pm to 1pm you can enjoy the Salvation Army Band and Wessex Chorus. The Wessex Chorus will perform again at 1.30pm.

Pokesdown residents won a £22,000 lottery grant which paid for the village sign, a local history board, some new benches, trees and more.

Pam Ruthvan from Pokesdown Community Forum, said people felt the area, which is squeezed between Southbourne and Boscombe , had been neglected or forgotten.

She said: “People have been so grateful that the area is being recognised.”

The council also paid for a new lamppost, work on the vegetation, and a fingerpost outside Seabourne’s Pub.

The area is believed to take its name from the Old English word Pucca, meaning a type of mischievous sprite.