HYDE900 has announced its 2012 programme including music, cycling, arts, literature and much more.

It started as a community project to celebrate Hyde to mark the 900th anniversary in 2010 of the burial of King Alfred the Great in Hyde Abbey.

Since then, it has continued to run activities even though the milestone has passed.

Those in 2012 include the return of the Wantage to Winchester bike ride on St Swithun’s Day, Sunday, July 15.

There will also be a new series of The Art of Conversation and a third season of Michaelmas Music in the autumn.

Bring-your-own literature nights also continue at the Hyde Tavern in Hyde Street on the third Thursday of each month.

The Art of Conversation will run fortnightly from mid-April to the end of June.

Based in Hyde Parish Hall it provides a chance for audiences to hear from artists and designers who live in Hyde.

Amongst the six participants will be textile artist Alice Kettle, whose work is displayed in Winchester Discovery Centre.

Michaelmas Music will run from September to November at St Bartholomew’s Church.

The programme features a number of local choirs and musicians – including those from Peter Symonds College – performing work that reflects the venue’s history.

The Index Cantorum choir will perform in the inaugural concert on Saturday, September 8.

Other Hyde900 activities will include litter picking and an environmental project to improve the rivers running through the area.

Another project that is planned is Finding the Stones, which aims to identify stones that formed a part of Hyde Abbey before it was destroyed.

Steve Marper, who chairs Hyde900, said: “We would like to seek out and record the stones from Hyde Abbey that can still be found in Hyde, and perhaps elsewhere, embedded in walls, or providing a feature in the house or garden.”

Visit hyde900.co.uk for more details.