OVER 700 Christmas angels will be descending on a market town bringing messages of love, peace and joy, and an appeal to take them home.

The churches of Bedale, led by the Methodist church, have been working together and encouraging parishioners and supporters to get their needles out to create the heavenly host of angels.

They are due to land in Bedale on the morning of December 19. They will be strategically placed around the town and organisers want to make sure that people realise, it’s finders keepers.

Methodist Minister Rev Kathleen Wood said they were concerned that people would be too polite to put them in their pockets or bags.

“The whole idea is that people pick them up and take them home,” said Rev Wood. “Whether they want to pass them onto other people that’s up to them, we were just worried that people would see the angels in the street and think they should not touch them.

“We’ve been working for a long time to get them together, we just wanted to spread some love and joy for Christmas, so each angel has a little message. They’re not religious messages , it may just say “love is all” we wanted to bring a smile to people’s faces and spread some Christmas joy.

“We’re going to be up very early and they will be placed around the main streets, unless the weather is absolutely awful then we may have to rethink, but we have faith,” added Rev Wood.