A WALK of Witness through Basingstoke town centre reminded people of the Easter message.

About 400 people from most of the Christian churches in Basingstoke met outside the United Reformed Church, in London Street, for the Good Friday procession.

Church leaders read from the bible and The Salvation Army played hymns for people to sing along to.

A silent procession then followed a wooden cross carried through the town centre to its resting place at The Malls shopping centre.

Along the way, volunteers handed out leaflets explaining why Good Friday is so important to the Christian faith.

After the walk, people gathered at Church Cottage for hot cross buns, tea and coffee.

The Walk of Witness has been running for about 35 years and members of the Alliance of Basingstoke Churches take it in turns to organise the event.

Brendan Hickey, a member of St Bede's Catholic Church, who was part of this year's organising team, said: "It was a lovely sunlit morning and there were about 400 people there.

"The thing that is central is that Jesus died on the cross for us all, and all of the Christian churches in Basingstoke got together to give witness to that.

"Although we are from different churches and have slightly different beliefs, the core of our belief is the same and we all gathered together to give witness to that."