by Fiona Cooper

Veterans have stepped in to keep alive the memory of a Wormshill villager who dedicated decades to their cause.

The Royal British Legion has replaced a brooch awarded to Fanny Harris for more than 40 years' service to its Poppy Appeal after it was stolen in October.

The poppy brooch had been displayed in a cabinet above the pew where Miss Harris used to sit in the village's St Giles Church.

Miss Harris had been a teacher, postmistress, librarian, village hall secretary and a member of the parochial church council.

The theft, the latest in a spate at the medieval church, led to its "reluctant" closure during daytime hours.

It had been one of the few in the area to have opened during the day.

Parochial church council member Pat Hobday said they were grateful to the RBL.

She said: "While it's not quite the same at least we still have something in memory of Miss Harris."

Neither the brooch nor any of the stolen items, including a brass altar cross, two brass candlesticks and two small brass vases taken last year, and a Victorian-style gas stove and cylinder which went missing in September, have been recovered.