Villagers try to put felled Christmas tree back up

A village is trying to put its toppled Christmas tree back up as quickly as possible after it was "deliberately" cut down.

The tree, which had stood in Shotton Colliery, County Durham, for more than 10 years, was felled on Wednesday, just hours after its Christmas lights had been turned on.

Shotton Residents Association chairman Steve Maitland told Radio Tees that members of the public were making a sleeve for the tree's base so they could bolt it back up as quickly as possible, "just to tide us over for Christmas".

Mr Maitland said the tree had been put up as a monument to the fallen soldiers of World War One.

He said: "These people who did this – I don't think they understand the history and the feeling of these things."

Some of the people involved in fundraising for the tree a decade ago had since died, he said.

He called the attack "mindless vandalism" but said he could not "turn the clock back".

Mr Maitland said the next steps would be to set up a fundraising campaign to plant a new tree and "start again".

"[We've] just got to push on and try and get it sorted," he said.

Police said the tree was believed "to have been cut down deliberately".

PC David Allan, from Peterlee Neighbourhood Police Team, said it had caused "huge upset" throughout the village at a time "when our community should be coming together".

"We are treating this incident extremely seriously, and we will deal with anyone responsible as robustly as the law allows," he said.

"This behaviour has no place in our community. Someone knows something - please help us find who is responsible."

The force has appealed for witnesses, or anyone with CCTV or doorbell footage of anyone acting suspiciously in the area, to get in touch.

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