THE ‘Walk of Witness’ organised by St Mary’s Church in Olveston had a special addition this year as the group stopped off to admire the latest work of a local gate-painter.

Angus Macaskill, of Churchill House, has hung many paintings from the gates of his house representing the village’s events but nothing quite like this.

An eight-foot-tall depiction of Jesus on the cross, taken from Salvador Dali’s famous representation of the Good Friday events, adorned the gates for two days after an all-night painting session.

Angus and his wife were attending an 'Agape', a practical reminder of the Passover meal that the bible describes on the evening before Jesus' trial, in the church on Thursday, April 2 when the idea came to him.

He said: "I sensed an inspiration to do this painting for the gates - which have been bare for many months.

“I got back home and was painting soon after 10pm. By 3am, five hours later, I had finished and was washing my brushes.”

During the Walk of Witness the church congregation stopped opposite the painting where they sang a hymn before continuing the walk.

Mr Macaskill added: “The only snag was that about 2am I realised that I will have to follow this up with another painting for Easter day on Sunday.”

On Sunday the painting was replaced with a new piece, representing new life springing from an empty tomb.