Relatives and friends of people remembered on a community memorial bench have welcomed its repair following vandalism.

The special bench has been unveiled to acclaim by Horrabridge villagers after metal tribute plaques were damaged or removed during an act of vandalism.

The ‘Granfer’(or grandfather) bench has 12 locally made memorial plaques in tribute to beloved members of the community, paid for by their friends and family.

Resident Martin Commbes installed the new plaques and embedded them in the wood to help them last longer and make it more difficult to remove after the vandalism last year.

He began the tradition of fixing tributes to the bench, made out of a much-loved riverside tree played on by generations of children over the decades: ‘I asked someone with a chainsaw to make a rough bench out of the tree in 2019 when it was taken down for safety reasons.

‘I had the idea of putting a brass plaque on it to remember my dad Samuel who was killed in 1960 in a traffic accident. Then someone asked it if was ok to put other plaques on and I thought it was a good idea and it’s been a tradition since then. Sadly the plaques were vandalised last year.’

Chris Greatrex, 60, said he and his father Albert were ‘devastated’ when a plaque in memory of Chris’s brother was damaged. Chris said: ‘It’s a great comfort to have the plaques reinstalled. The damage was an insult to Phil’s memory. Martin’s done a good job.’