The love shown by a community who rallied to search for missing three-year-old Noah Woods was a “thread of positivity” amongst the tragedy, a rector has said.

Noah disappeared from a playground in Brantham, Suffolk, at about 15:00 BST on Tuesday after becoming separated from a relative.

At least 1,300 people helped to try to find him in the following 24 hours, before a child’s body was discovered on Wednesday afternoon at a nearby pond.

The Reverend Chris Willis said: “Everybody was as one… what we saw throughout was a real coming together of people and a willingness to work together which, in spite of the deep sadness, was a thread of real positivity seeing how people cared.”

About 100 bunches of flowers have been left at the playground where he was last seen and more than £21,000 has been donated to a fundraiser to support his family.

Willis, parish rector of St Michael’s Church in Brantham, said he had “never seen anything like” the outpouring of support.

“I was moved, overwhelmed and staggered actually that people were coming from far and wide,” he said.

“It was hundreds, even into the thousands, coming together with one deep, common concern to find a little boy, who longed to find a happy ending for him and his family.

“Sadly, very sadly that wasn’t to be.”

People from as far afield as Birmingham and Hampshire had turned up to help find Noah, who was from East Bergholt.

Helicopters, dog units and members of the public had been scouring the area, close to the River Stour on the Essex border.

Willis said it was “devastating” when news came that a body had been found.

“It was a moment of, in one sense, the news that you don’t want to hear and obviously, as time went on, it was the news we feared the most,” he said.

“Then immediately, while we all feel that deeply, we’ve got to then be thinking of Noah’s family for whom it is incomprehensible.”

Willis said Brantham would pull together, as it had after a previous tragedy.

In 2024 Anita Rose was murdered while walking her dog on a footpath in the village.

“This is a community that knows tragedy and has had to contend with tragedy in recent years,” he said.

“All I can say, unequivocally, is this is a community that has been amazingly positive. [It] has dealt with the pain of loss and I have no doubt we’ll pull together.

“There was a love shown, that was my first impression, and I hope and believe we’ll see that continue.”

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