A Bingley sculptor who once used 200 nails torn from an old Bradford mill to depict the crucifixion of Christ, has died aged 80.

The artwork was part of an alternative Easter exhibition created by Graham Carey using reclaimed and recycled materials to focus on the gritty reality of the Christian festival.

A member of St Wilfred’s Church in Gilstead and a former sculpture lecturer at Bingley College, the collection Lent And Nailed had gone on display at Bradford University’s Gallery II throughout Lent.

Mr Carey, who had also worked as a welder, spent years collecting ‘scrap’ and unwanted materials to build up pieces for the exhibition.

The sculptor, who also had a passion for singing, died at his home in Granville Terrace, leaving daughters Emma and Hannah and a grand-daughter Mabel.

Mr Carey was a lecturer at the former Bingley Teacher Training College from 1965 until it closed and merged with Ilkley College in the 1970s.

Born in Croydon, he went to technical school in London before working at an aircraft factory in North Wales and from there he went to art college in Corsham in Wiltshire for a year before moving back to London where he got a teaching diploma at Trent Park College.

His first teaching post was at a secondary school at Malmesbury back in Wiltshire before taking advantage of the Government’s expansion of higher education by moving to Bingley to become a lecturer in pottery at the teaching training college.

He became a member of the Labour Party and also did a photograph survey of the town before major redevelopment of parts of the town centre in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

As well as attending St Wilfrid’s Church he also went to Holy Trinity Church in Bingley and was a member of the Bradford Diocesan and Airedale Deanery Synods.

He was known a radical campaigner, debater and prolific writer on environmental, peace and non-violence issues.