Four hundred join city's first open-air Pentecost event

Image caption, The new Big Screen in Millennium Square was used within the celebration

Churches of all denominations and languages in Coventry celebrated the festival of Pentecost in the city centre in June.

Despite heavy rain showers, the Bishop of Coventry led a procession from the cathedral to Millennium Square for the open-air event.

Big Screen impact

Rev David Mayhew from Holy Trinity Church Coventry said: "We wanted to make it as accessible as possible this year in the city centre.

"Millennium Square, with the new Big Screen, is a great location to gather all the churches of Coventry together.

"Our longer term vision is that the annual event might gain enough support to take us to the Ricoh Arena stadium in future years."

Organiser Deepak Robinson, member of the Asian church based at Christian Life Ministries, said: "We had about 400 people and the screen created a big impact.

Image caption, Items donated to the Coventry Food Bank were laid in the shape of a cross

"The essence of the event was Pentecost and I am confident that we did spread this message across Coventry city centre that day."

Cross of food

The celebration on 11 June was also be the official launch of the recently established Coventry Food Bank, of which the bishop is patron.

The food bank has already supported and fed over 800 families from its city centre base.

People were invited to take non-perishable and long-dated food items to donate. These were laid in the shape of a symbolic cross for the charity.