'We're going to grieve together': Brantham rector reflects on death of three-year-old Noah Woods

Reverend Chris Willis, Rector of St Michael’s Church in Brantham, says people have gone from a shared determination to find the little boy safely to “common despair” following the discovery of his body.

Noah was reported missing on Tuesday afternoon, 15 September, after becoming separated from a relative following a visit to the playground in Merriam Close, Brantham.

Suffolk Police said his last confirmed sighting was on CCTV at the park at 2.37pm, with Noah reported to have run down an alleyway beside the playground towards a nearby new-build housing estate and Decoy Pond.

A major search operation followed, involving specialist police search teams, dog units, helicopters, HM Coastguard, Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service, Suffolk Lowland Search and Rescue and other agencies.

Police estimate around 1,300 members of the public also helped with the search.

On Wednesday afternoon, officers from the Metropolitan Police Dive Team recovered the body of a child from Decoy Pond.

Suffolk Police confirmed on Thursday that, subject to confirmation at formal inquest proceedings, the child had been formally identified as Noah.

His death is not being treated as suspicious, although police say a number of enquiries remain to be completed before a file is submitted to the Coroner.

'A common determination to keep searching'

Reverend Willis was among those who joined the effort to find Noah and said St Michael’s Church adapted as the scale of the response grew.

He said the church initially found itself meeting practical needs, providing refreshments and facilities to some of the large number of volunteers who travelled to the area.

“People have been coming,” he said. “We’ve definitely had people coming into the church just to come and sit and reflect, but really we’ve had to adjust as a church as to what was happening.”

He said that as volunteers arrived from Brantham and further afield on Wednesday, there was also a practical role for the church.

“There was a need,” he said. “It wasn’t maybe a spiritual need, it was physical, so people needed to come and get refreshment, use the toilet.”

He said others came inside simply to sit quietly and reflect.

Reflecting on conversations he has had over the past two days, Reverend Willis described a dramatic change in the mood of the community.

He said: “That’s the whole experience really, what’s just happened, is the common longing, desire to find Noah safe, and then the common determination to keep searching, and then the common despair.”

He added that people had come together with “one desire, one purpose”, but said more recent conversations had been “very quiet, very subdued, and very sad”.

His thoughts, he said, were particularly with Noah’s family, who are facing “a family’s worst nightmare”.

Tributes become a focal point for grief

Flowers, toys and messages have been left beside the playground in Merriam Close where Noah was last seen.

Reverend Willis visited the tributes with his daughter on Thursday, having previously spent hours in the area during the search.

He said: “We spent some time just reflecting and reading the notes.

“It’s very poignant. It’s very quiet up there. It’s very subdued, very dignified, and very sad, but very meaningful at the same time.”

He described the tributes as a focal point for people trying to process what has happened.

“We saw a phenomenal, unprecedented response,” he said, describing support from Brantham, surrounding communities and people from further afield.

“But it’s a shared grief now at this stage, and obviously, it has become a way that people express their grief, and I think there’s a need to do that.”

Speaking in his role as a vicar, he added: “We all have an inner need to grieve and a need to process.”

St Michael’s is also remaining available to people who may want somewhere quiet to reflect.

Reverend Willis said: “We don’t know if people want to walk into the church, be quiet, there’s a need and we want to meet that need as well.”

'We're going to grieve together'

Asked about the days ahead, Reverend Willis said the village would have to acknowledge the grief it was experiencing.

“In Brantham we’re going to grieve together, there is a grief, you’ve got to call it that,” he said.

He said his own focus was on recognising the good shown by people who rallied to help during what he described as a “horrible situation”.

He added: “That’s the best way, is to see the good of people rallying, the heartfelt response.”

The response has also been praised by Suffolk Police.

Superintendent Tom Pearse said people had helped not only by searching the village and surrounding area, but by coordinating volunteers, keeping facilities open, providing food and drink and directing traffic.

He said the response showed “the county at its best in what transpired to be the most tragic of circumstances”.

'A community of people who care'

Reverend Willis said Brantham had faced tragedy before and described the process of returning to normality after loss as “a really painful journey for any community”.

But he said he had confidence in the village's ability to support one another.

“I have every confidence this community has a resilience and the strength to do that again because I’ve seen them do it before,” he said.

He described Brantham as a “grassroots, straight talking community of people who care”.

“I feel privileged to be part of this community.”Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.