EARLY risers in Swindon will have the chance to see a huge cross sent on a world tour by the Pope.

The World Youth Day Cross is arriving in the town on Tuesday during the early hours and leaving at 8am to go to Clifton Cathedral for a special Mass.

Now, after hearing that more than 10,000 people have seen the 4m cross since it arrived in the UK on January 8, officials have decided to open St Mary's Church in Tovey Road at 6.30am.

Assistant priest at the church, Fr Kevin Hennessy, who is responsible for the cross while it is in the Bristol Diocese, said: "It has really caught people's imagination and we wanted people to have the opportunity of seeing it before it went to Bristol for the day-long youth rally."