Residents of a Fenland village near to where Capt Sir Tom Moore once lived, have replaced memorial plaques vandalised a year ago.

The community at Lakes End near Welney came together to help replace the plaques and stakes that were stolen.

And, two new trees have been planted to commemorate the pandemic fund-raising hero ahead of what have been his 102nd birthday.

The Lakes End resident began the Sir Tom project two years ago and, for the tree planting ceremony, other villagers came together to see new stakes that have been erected.

Captain Tom lived in Welney during the 1980s when he was general manager of a concrete firm in March.

With the factory under threat, Capt Tom led a management buyout and saved dozens of jobs that were under threat.

Many still recall with fondness his association with the area.

The Lakes End resident who organised the tree planting, says villagers were devastated when they learnt about the plaques and stakes being stolen.

“My neighbour, Sue, used to always take her dog Rosie onto the field for walks, and, as I live really close to it, I wanted to make it look really special and a place where villagers would want to come,” said the resident.

“It was hard hearing that parts of Captain Tom’s memorial had been stolen after all of my hard work, but locals got in touch and donated a few trees to help the area come into fruition again,” they said.

With the help of Outwell timber and building supplies, Sandi Turner, the Lakes End village hall committee, Abi Day (manager of Tesco Express in March) and Adrian Wright, the area is looking “beautiful” again.

The resident said: “So far, we’ve planted the two fruit trees which were donated by Sandi and the committee, and the new stakes that were supplied by Outwell timber and paid for by the committee and Abi have also been planted,” they said.

“I’ve also had the signs re-made too and they’ve been donated by Adrian, I just need to paint them now and they’ll be ready to go back onto the memorial.”

Once the signs are back in place, the next step is to surround Captain Tom’s memorial with Flanders poppies for both him and his comrades.

“Thank you everyone for your support in my little project. It means the world, more than you will ever know,” they said.