IT WAS a thoughtless act of vandalism but it has ended up bringing some extra Christmas spirit to a Hampshire village.

Residents of Hamble had been disappointed with the lack of decorations on the Christmas tree erected by the parish council in the village square so they decided to give it a makeover.

Villagers added their own decorations and children from Hamble Village Playschool made baubles which they hung on the tree on Friday.

The next morning villagers awoke to find the tree had been vandalised with many of the ornaments and lights smashed.

The culprit had been filmed by a friend as he jumped all over the tree and the footage was posted on the internet.

Deborah Rolfe, landlady of the Victory Inn, asked if the village’s retained firefighters could help restore the tree to its former glory, using their ladders to reach the higher boughs.

On Sunday villagers gathered for an impromptu redecoration ceremony and as they awaited the arrival of the fire engine the young man responsible for trashing the tree arrived and made a public apology for his actions.

Deborah Rolfe told the Echo: “He came down and publicly apologised to everyone there and offered to pay towards new lights and decorations. It was really honourable and it took some guts to do that as he had been vilified all weekend.

“Everyone knew who had damaged the tree and they were furious.”

However, now all is forgiven and the incident has given a kick start to what could become a new Christmas tradition.

Sheila Cohen, vice chair of the parish council, said the authority, village traders and the firefighters would now work towards organising an official tree decoration ceremony for 2017.

Speaking yesterday Cllr Cohen said “This turned out to be a lovely event and now we are hoping to have a village event like this next year along with other Christmas events.”

She added that the council had already noted the village’s unhappiness with with the original tree decorations and it was due to be discussed when councillors met this evening.