A RETELLING of the Easter story on the streets of Highworth drew thousands of onlookers.

Six churches from the town banded together to present a modern day version of the Easter story, using pop songs instead of hymns, on Good Friday.

And their imaginative new version, which took 18 months to plan and involved more than 200 people, drew a 3,000 strong crowd of spectators.

The event was filmed and broadcast live around the square so the people watching could follow the performance.

Phil Baker, leader of the Highworth Community Church, said: "It was such a fantastic night and involved the community in an entirely different level.

"All the hard work was completely worth it just to see the community spirit come together in this way."

Gwen Metcalfe, backstage manager and one of the main organisers, said: "The support we had from the community was amazing.

"Everything went off without a hitch and there wasn't any trouble whatsoever which was great.

"The best thing was to see that all this talent we have as a local community, all the wonderful skills everyone had, all come together that made the evening even more special."

The performance also drew parallels with modern day life.

The production was backed up by music played by members of Highworth Church, Warneford Saxophone Quartet, Highworth Songsters, Highworth Choral Society and Highworth Silver Band.

There was also a musical start to the evening's events, when youngsters from a number of schools around Highworth sang songs before the main performance begun.

Hannah Smale, 18, performed with the Warneford Sax Quartet.

"It was such a good night, performing in front of all those people," she said.

"Everyone gave us a good cheer and we had a brilliant time."

Helen Pysanczyn, music teacher at Warneford School, said: "We had been practising for such a long while and it was brilliant to see it go so well.

"I am very proud of my students for all the hard work they put in. It was brilliant."

Valerie Mcauley, whose daughter Rachael, 16, performed on the night, said: "It was such a proud moment for me to see my daughter up there.

"I was really surprised to see so many people turn up. We thought there would be a fair few but not so many because of the weather but in spite of the wind and the snow, everyone came out in support and it was a brilliant evening."

Tony Brewster, who played a priest in the play, said: "It went really well. I wasn't nervous at all.

"The best part of the whole night was seeing our local community come out together like this despite the bad weather. It made all the hard work worth it."

Nicole Resa, 22, and Elizabeth Mageria, also 22, were visiting from Germany.

"The night was so great," said Nicole.

"There has never been anything like this in Germany and to see something like this has been so brilliant."

Elizabeth said: "The fact that a local community achieved so much and everybody pulled this off was fantastic. To see an amateur production go so well was fantastic.

"The atmosphere was great and the people were friendly. We loved it."

Dudley Cheesley, a Highworth local who had come out to see the performance, said: "It was a privilege to host an event like this in our town. Everything went well and it made me very proud to be part of Highworth."