CHRISTMAS angels brought heavenly festive cheer to a community as 700 descended on a town looking for a home.

The finger-sized angels were knitted by volunteers from the churches of Bedale, led by the Methodist church who wanted to spread a message of peace and love.

They were strategically placed around the town in the early hours just before Christmas and by lunchtime they had all been snapped up. While there was some disappointment among people who failed to secure an angel, there have been many messages of thanks about the joy they had brought and the special places they have been given.

Methodist Minister Kathleen Wood, who organised the event said they were delighted with the response. They had put out a special request to people to take the angels home to make sure they were not wrecked by the weather. Each angel had a tag with a special festive message of peace and love.

Rev Wood said:”The angels were almost all gone by midday. We have had lovely stories of families going to choose their own, single men and women and some disappointed people when they realised they were all gone.

“Our knitters worked so hard over the autumn to make the angels and it was a lovely Christmas message.”

One elderly angel recipient said:”It was wonderful to see all the angels around Bedale, some were quite hard to find but they seemed to disappear very quickly, hopefully it made people think about the messages behind Christmas. Such a lovely thought.”