MORE than £1,100 has been raised in a matter of hours to replace a stolen memorial bench.

The people of Monmouth have rallied behind a bereaved family after the bench, installed in June in memory of Monmouth woman Mandi Morgan, was wrenched from its concrete base at Dixton Church overnight on 25th July.

A crowd funding appeal was launched yesterday morning (1st August), with the £850 target reached by yesterday evening.

The total raised is now in excess of £1,100, with more donations still coming in.

The bench, which features a plaque with Mandi’s name, was only put down around a month ago.

It is thought considerable effort was used to remove the bench from its location, as the legs had been bolted and concreted into the base.

The theft was condemned by Reverend Penny Powdrill, who said it looked like “someone knew exactly what they were doing and what they were taking”.

“This poor lady has lost her daughter, which no one should have to go through, and now this,” she added. “What sort of person takes something like this?”

Following the appeal, Tara Davies, Mandi’s daughter, took to Facebook to thank everyone for their generous donations.

“Well a huge huge thank you to everyone that has donated towards my mum’s memorial bench,” she wrote.

“Any [money] that is raised over our target will be used for Dixton Church to have some sort of cameras or wildlife cams put in place to prevent this happening again or to someone else’s family. I’m hugely grateful and I know my nan is too, this time last week she was broken and now her faith in people has been restored, even people we don’t know are willing to help.

“Thank you from the bottom of our hearts,” she added.