Why did someone remove 40 dinner plates from a community centre at Christmas-time without asking?

That is the question confounding Holt Community Centre's committee chairman Martin Watson since the tableware was taken.

The disappearance was discovered when the centre's team was cooking up a community Christmas feast, and they then had to go and spend around £100 buying new plates to replace the missing ones.

Mr Watson said: 'Numerous volunteers gave up their own Christmas Days in order to provide a magnificent lunch to those who would otherwise have been by themselves or without the means to enjoy such a treat.

'Removing so many essential elements, plates, just prior to that wonderful celebration was an act of selfish thoughtlessness, to say the least.'

Mr Watson called for the plates to be returned.