A GIANT crane is be used to hoist a 50ft-high cross into place at Ampleforth College on Monday.

The Millennium Cross was to have been dropped into place by an RAF helicopter but the operation was abandoned earlier this week.

Now college bosses are drafting in an 80-ton crane to lift the cross, which was built in memory of Cardinal Basil Hume, a former Abbot of Ampleforth.

The cross was to have been lifted into place by the RAF using a Chinook helicopter but strong winds created by the propellers rendered the task impossible.

A second attempt by the RAF on the same day also failed when the four-and-a-half ton cross crushed a metal cone installed in a bid to guide the cross into position.

The latest operation will start at 9.30am on Monday and will involve no road closures, said college spokesman James Darley.

"A company called Halls of Bridlington will be supplying the crane we need," he said.

"Work has already started to flatten out a section of the hillside to make sure the crane can get into position."

Updated: 10:41 Saturday, June 22, 2002