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Good Friday Easter service with three wooden crosses returns to Sheppey after two-year break

05:00, 14 April 2022

The Isle of Sheppey's popular Good Friday service at Bunny Bank, Minster, is returning after a two-year break.

The Easter ceremony, which features three wooden crosses planted on top of the "green hill", is being organised by Churches Together in Sheppey.

Easter at Bunny Bank at The Glen, Minster, Sheppey, in 2019 with the traditional three wooden crosses
Easter at Bunny Bank at The Glen, Minster, Sheppey, in 2019 with the traditional three wooden crosses
Deacon Maggie Mancktelow of Minster Bethel Church
Deacon Maggie Mancktelow of Minster Bethel Church

It had to be abandoned because Covid restrictions stopped large outside gatherings.

Maggie Mancktelow, a Deacon at Minster's Bethel Congregational church and secretary of Churches Together, said: "I know that many people have missed the service over the past two years but this year we will be back. All are welcome to join us in remembering the events of that first Good Friday."

Crosses have traditionally been walked to the location by churchgoers from Sheerness and prisoners from Eastchurch as part of a Procession of Witness to recreate the final walk of Jesus before he was crucified.

The last service, led by Father Frank Moran of the Roman Catholic church in Sheerness, was in 2019.

In 2020 Bunny Bank was left empty for the first time in generations. Last year, a solitary wooden cross appeared.

A single cross on the top of Bunny Bank, Minster, Sheppey, at Easter 2021 during the coronavirus pandemic
A single cross on the top of Bunny Bank, Minster, Sheppey, at Easter 2021 during the coronavirus pandemic
Easter at Bunny Bank at The Glen, Minster, Sheppey, in 2019 with brass band and traditional three wooden crosses
Easter at Bunny Bank at The Glen, Minster, Sheppey, in 2019 with brass band and traditional three wooden crosses
Father Frank Moran at the Easter Good Friday service at Bunny Bank at The Glen, Minster, Sheppey, in 2019 with the traditional three wooden crosses
Father Frank Moran at the Easter Good Friday service at Bunny Bank at The Glen, Minster, Sheppey, in 2019 with the traditional three wooden crosses
Major Lynne Clifton of the Salvation Army on Sheppey
Major Lynne Clifton of the Salvation Army on Sheppey

This year's service is being masterminded by the Salvation Army's Major Lynne Clifton and will feature the return of a brass band from the Medway Towns. It will begin at 11am.

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