PREPARATIONS are under way for the annual Good Friday pilgrimage up Bredon Hill.

As many as 500 Christians of all denominations are expected to accompany three crosses to the summit, where a service will be led by the Bishop of Worcester, Dr Peter Selby.

Many other people who are not involved in the service will also be making the climb, which is a time-honoured tradition in the Pershore area.

The Rev Peter Thomas, vicar of Eckington, said the service was always a moving event.

"There is a real solemnity when people remember Christ's death on the cross and a real sense of the significance of the day and a feeling of pilgrimage; that the travelling is as important as the arriving at a place made sacred by the presence of the crosses."

Former members of the recently disbanded Perscoran Brass and musicians from the town's Baptist chapel will provide accompaniment to seasonal hymns at the service and a collection will be taken for Pershore Together's designated charity, the Vale-based ACES Children in El Salvador.

At the end of the service congregation members are each presented with a palm cross and are encouraged to approach one of the crosses that have been carried up the hill as an act of penitence.

One group of walkers will be setting off from Woollas Hall Farm at 1.45pm and groups from Kemerton and Elmley Castle will strike out at 1.30.

The service, which is organised by Churches Together in Pershore and the town's Deanery, begins at 2.45pm. Pershore's new vicar, the Rev Kenneth Crawford, who arrived in the town last October, said he was looking forward to his first experience of the traditional Easter event.

"I think it will be very poignant and very moving to go up the hill with these different crosses.

"I think it will be a good experience and I am looking forward to it."

Before the pilgrimage worshippers of all denominations will be taking part in a Walk of Witness in Pershore.

The procession begins at the town's Baptist Chapel on Broad Street at 10.30am and moves to Chapman Court, in front of the supermarket, where a service will be held.

Christians in Evesham will also be holding a Walk of Witness on Good Friday. The procession starts at the bottom of Bridge Street at 11am, moves through the Riverside Centre to the Market Square and then into Abbey Park for a service.