VOLUNTEERS are being sought to help take down the Chevin Cross this weekend.

Around 40 or 50 helpers are needed to lend a hand so that the cross can be removed and safely stowed away until next year. They are asked to assemble at Surprise View at 9am on Saturday, April 30.

Organisers, Churches Together in Otley, say they are delighted with the way in which so many people have responded so positively to what has now become an Easter event which many people have benefitted from.

A spokesperson said: "The Sun-Rise Service at 7am on Easter Sunday morning was attended by some 300 people. Additionally many others have made their own personal visits leaving tributes of flowers and messages."

The striking symbol has been an iconic feature of the landscape at Easter for almost every year since it was first introduced by the Otley Council of Christian Churches in 1969.

The original cross was replaced for the new Millennium when timber salvaged from Manchester’s Arndale Centre was used in its construction.

The shopping mall had been destroyed in June, 1996, in an IRA terrorist attack.

In 2001 it was not possible to erect the cross due to foot and mouth disease.