The eventful life of Winchester's Christmas tree took a new turn as the city's churches clubbed together to repair the damage after vandals felled the 30ft spruce with a saw, smashing lights and baubles.

Ewen Huffman, pastor at the Winchester Baptist Church, in Swan Lane, e-mailed other churches with the news and they all said they would share the cost of replacing the decorations while the city centre partnership agreed to pay for new lights.

By the beginning of this week, the tree had been returned to its former glory.

"We just wanted to make the most of Christmas. The church wanted to give it as a gift to the city so we can all celebrate Christmas together," said Mr Huffman.

Howard Mellor, minister of Winchester's United Church, helped Mr Huffman collect the decorations.

" We were happy to do it," he said. "Christmas should be a time of great celebration. A tree is full of colour and light and says many things about the festive period - and, hopefully, the decorations will be around next year."

Mayor, Cecily Sutton, described the churches' response as "a marvellous act of generosity".

"It shows that goodness overcomes evil; it shows that Winchester is not going to let anything spoil our Christmas," she said.