Help sought to catch up on naked giant re-chalking

Work to restore the Cerne Abbas Giant's bright white chalk outline has fallen behind after unsettled weather.

National Trust staff and volunteers started packing tonnes of new chalk onto the the naked, club-wielding man cut into a hillside near the village of Cerne Abbas, Dorset, last month.

After the weather swung from rain to strong winds and extreme heat over recent weeks the trust said the 55m (180 ft) tall giant's glow-up work had fallen about a week behind schedule.

The trust has planned two further days - Sunday 7 and Tuesday 9 June - to help get back on track but warned the work on the steep slope would be "very messy" and volunteers could expect to get covered in chalk.

The trust said the work on both days would be split into two shifts with those who wanted to help out needing to be at the viewpoint car park at either 09:30 or 13:30 BST.

It added as the weather remained unpredictable the plans may be cancelled at short notice.

"If conditions are unsuitable and if it is raining on the morning you planned to come its likely, for safety reasons, we won't be going ahead," the trust said.

The strenuous job sees about 17 tonnes of fresh chalk carried up the steep hillside, which in places has a gradient of roughly one in three.

The old chalk is carefully dug out before fresh material is tightly packed into the giant's outline by hand to to save the it from being washed away by rainwater.

The charity has cared for the giant since 1920.

Rangers and volunteers maintain its outline with re-chalking every decade to stop weeds and erosion.

Sheep graze on the site between chalkings to keep the grass short.