Residents in Ellingham celebrated the inauguration of their new village sign at a special ceremony.

The ceremony, in late March, saw a strong turn-out of residents from the village alongside several children from a nearby primary school despite the grey weather.

Richard Lees, who carved the sign, gave a speech describing the sign and emphasised its symbolism, with children a major feature of the design.

A spokesman said: “He wanted it to represent the future as well as the past of the village. This was the theme of the speech he gave, when he emphasised to the children how important their input was into the sign, and the community as a whole going forward.”

The carvings on the sign include a hand bell copied from one in the village’s school, a boy distracted by fishing in the nearby river rather than attending school, and an arch to represent a school and church interior, the railway bridge, and the arches under the mill on the river.