A Suffolk village banded together after Storm Elin took out a beloved tree, leaving half the village in darkness.

Villagers in Redlingfield, near Eye, were able to cut up the tree and move it off the road using chainsaws and a JCB after the storm on Saturday (December 9).

The 50-foot-high tree was planted by villager Roberta Gooderham, when she was chair of the village parish meeting, and believed to be either a poplar or a birch that was planted for royal Silver Jubilee celebrations in 1977.

The tree landed on electricity cables, blocked Church Road, and narrowly missed a house, although it did demolish a gate and some fencing.

The tree had wrapped itself around some electricity cables and taken them to the ground, causing sparking from the cables.

East Anglian Daily Times: Villager Dick Eaton tackling the fallen treeVillager Dick Eaton tackling the fallen tree (Image: Janet Norman-Philips)

Thankfully, an engineer from UK Power Networks was driving through the village and was able to turn off the power, leaving half the village in darkness until later that evening.

Janet Norman-Philips, clerk of the Redlingfield Parish Meeting, said: “The amazing thing is that it missed the houses. If it had been ten feet one way or the other, it would have hit something, but fortunately all it damaged was the gate and fencing.

“Some of our villagers rushed out to help, with all their equipment. It is a small village and people are very happy to rush out and help.

East Anglian Daily Times: The tree is believed to have been planted in the 1977 Jubilee celebrations.The tree is believed to have been planted in the 1977 Jubilee celebrations. (Image: Janet Norman-Philips)

“The tree had survived all the other storms, but the ground is so sodden that it gave way and collapsed, which was very sad. We will have to decide as a village what we will replace it with.”

A spokesperson from Suffolk police said they were called at around 3.45pm to reports of the fallen tree and attended the scene.

A spokesperson from UK Power Networks added: "A UK Power Networks engineer noticed a tree had come down on overhead electricity cables as he drove along Church Road, Redlingfield at about 3.45pm on Saturday afternoon on his way to another job.

"The engineer arranged for power to the 33 homes to be isolated for safety reasons until our team could repair the overhead low voltage cables.

"Supplies were restored at 10.40pm."