A concert is to be held next weekend to raise funds to replace ornate timber gates that were stolen by thieves.

The gates, worth about £500, were stolen from the community garden at Sir William Turner's Almshouse in Kirkleatham, Redcar.

The garden was opened last June by the Mayor of Redcar and provides landscaped gardens for residents of the almshouses and their neighbours in Kirkleatham Village.

But sometime overnight between Friday and Saturday, April 7 and 8, thieves took the gates, leaving the almshouses' trustees to pick up the bill.

Trustees chairman Peter Sotheran said: "The gates are quite big. Both stand chest high, while one is two metres wide and the other is one metre wide.

"These were not opportunist thieves. They knew they were there and wished to take them for another location.

"The gates have distinctive extended and elegantly shaped uprights on the hinge side and will cost a penny short of £500 to replace.

"We do have insurance, but we must still pay the first £200 of the claim ourselves."

As a result, classical pianist Jill Crossland will perform in the 17th Century chapel at the almshouses on Friday, from 7.30pm.

Tickets for the concert cost £10 and are available from Guisborough Bookshop. The shop can be contacted on (01287) 610179.

Anyone with information about the gates is asked to call Cleveland Police on (01642) 326326.