ArtServe member Eileen Davis writes:

For many years we have converted the front of the church at Priory Methodist Church, Bedford from a podium to a garden for Easter.

The men made a folding tomb and a large stone to cover the door. The children made rocks from wire netting and paper mache and stepping stones from paper glue and sand. We cover the whole carpet in plastic sheeting and hessian and the congregation are asked to bring in potted plants from house and garden.

The lilies given in memory of loved ones are in groups in tall containers and on Easter day there are either colourful low flower arrangements or pots of flowering bulbs added to the garden. Some years, the opening of the service has women enacting the scene at the tomb which, when the stone is rolled away, has a stool with a grave cloth lying.