St Albans Cathedral: Hundreds follow live nativity trail

Trail followers met and heard from the many characters from the nativity including the shepherds with real sheep

Hundreds of people have followed a live nativity trail around a cathedral city.

The event, organised by St Albans Cathedral in Hertfordshire, featured shepherds, wise people, angels, innkeepers and a tyrannical King Herod.

People visited various locations in the city centre before a nativity scene was revealed at the cathedral.

Youth chaplain, Calum Zuckert, said it offered an "amazing experience to the community not just of telling the Christmas story, but living it".

Characters along the way posed for photographs

The cathedral said there had been "amazing engagement across the different scenes"

Starting from St Peter's Church in the city centre, people worked their way through the streets where they met and heard from characters who explained their part in the Christmas story.

Collecting stamps along the way, those who took part ended up at the cathedral site where the nativity was brought to life.

Children were told not to tell King Herod anything about the baby Jesus

Reverend Zuckert said that "children and young people are front and centre of what we do at the cathedral".

"Saturday was one of the most exciting days in the whole of our calendar," he added.

"We saw an amazing engagement across the different scenes - from shepherds and angels to the scary King Herod - not to mention all the animals.

"[Then] in the cathedral we welcomed more than 8,000 people to our Carols on the Hour services, many of whom also enjoyed meeting the characters from the nativity trail."

The final nativity scene included a real donkey

Those following the trail ended up at the main St Albans Cathedral site

Nativity organiser, Phillip Reardon, who also did a stint as King Herod, the leader who wanted to kill the new born baby Jesus because he thought that he would one day be a threat, said he had "loved the 'invisible' theatre, the audience interaction and the genuine enjoyment of breaking the fourth wall between performer and audience".

Wise people could be found near the final nativity scene

More than 7,500 people attended bite-sized carol services every hour at St Albans Cathedral