Residents in Staplehurst are only used to seeing their village bathed in sparkling lights once a year at Christmas.

However, inspired by the nationwide clap for the NHS last week, the parish council have turned their festive tree blue, to celebrate the brave efforts of emergency workers.

The lights went up on Friday and there are plans for blue lanterns to decorate the tree, found at The Parade.

Parish council chairman Paddy Riordan, an electrician by trade, put up the bulbs with the help of tree surgeon John Grimwood and a cherry picker donated by local firm Acorn Hire.

Cllr Riordan said: "The response has been wonderful. Obviously a lot of people can't go out to see them but we put the pictures on Facebook and there was so much positive feedback. We wanted to show that as a community we support the NHS.

"We have got an emergency help team made up of 80 volunteers running around supporting people who can't leave their homes, so it's nice for them to see it as well. It's keeping everybody's spirits up."

The display will be up indefinitely, Cllr Riordan said.

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