Though the celebration didn't quite qualify as a 'sunrise service' - the unusually early Easter, coming a week before the start of British Summer Time, meant sunrise on Sunday actually took place just before 6am, an hour before the service - the 'social climbers' walked up the hill to the chapel in glorious bright sunshine to greet the new Easter day in time-honoured fashion.

And they were serenaded as they climbed by piper George Hill, from the nearby Plan Farm, his music piercing the early morning silence and bringing a smile to the lips of many of the visitors.

The Rev Ian Currie, of the United Church of Bute, opened the service by describing St Blane's Chapel as "an amazing place", and spoke of how it reminded him of the story of that first Easter morning, almost two thousand years ago.

The congregation sang three famous Easter hymns - Jesus Christ Is Risen Today, There Is A Green Hill Far Away and Thine Be The Glory - and though the 'kist o' whistles' traditionally used at the St Blane's service gave up the ghost after barely a verse of the opening hymn, that didn't take anything away from the occasion.

Hot drinks and buttered rolls fortified the worshippers at the close of the service, with most choosing to hang around for a little while and savour the special occasion and unique atmosphere of the perfect place to welcome in Easter Sunday.

Sunrise services on Easter Sunday are becoming increasingly common throughout the Christian church, the Bute one having been started by the Rev Iain Laing, a former minister at Kingarth and Kilchattan Bay.

Elsewhere in Scotland, sunrise services, almost always in the open air, are traditionally held at Blackford Hill in Edinburgh, Coull Castle in Aberdeenshire and at King's Cross, near Whiting Bay on Arran, to name but a few.