When three-year-old Noah Woods disappeared, hundreds came together in the hope of bringing him home.

It was at about 15:00 BST on Tuesday when he became separated from a relative while at a playground in Brantham, Suffolk.

The following day the news came that nobody wanted to hear: a child’s body had been recovered from a nearby pond.

At least 1,300 people helped to try to find him, coming together in hope then grief. It is not the first time this village of about 2,600 people has been hit by tragedy. Just how does a community come to terms with such a loss?

In July 2024, Anita Rose, 57, who lived in Brantham, was taking her dog Bruce for a morning walk when she was attacked. She died three days later.

It would be three months before her killer Roy Barclay – a violent offender and one of the county’s most wanted criminals – was arrested and charged with her murder.

The large police and media presence that descended on Brantham on Tuesday as the search for missing Noah grew, will have brought back painful memories for the village’s residents.

Helicopters, dog units and members of the public began scouring the area, close to the River Stour on the Suffolk-Essex border.

Noah was non-verbal and partially deaf, which added complications to the search efforts.

Noah’s father Rhys Woods, from nearby East Bergholt, Suffolk, praised those who joined the search.

“The compassion shown by all of you will never be forgotten by us, and brought us comfort and strength at the darkest time of our lives.”

Reflecting after Noah’s death, the Reverend Chris Willis, rector of St Michael’s Church, in Brantham, said: “This is a community that knows tragedy and has had to contend with tragedy in recent years.

“All I can say, unequivocally, is this is a community that has been amazingly positive. It has dealt with the pain of loss and I have no doubt we’ll pull together.

“There was a love shown that was my first impression, and I hope and believe we’ll see that continue.”

James Cartlidge, the MP for South Suffolk, was standing with the volunteers when the police delivered the news of his death.

“That was pretty hard to watch to be honest because they were in deep grief. And that will remain the case,” he said.

“I’ve been many times to Brantham and always get the feeling it is a strong community.

“There’s history, there’s community, and there is strength. And they showed it with the terrible case with Anita Rose. And they will show it now, and they are showing it now, the way they’ve responded.”

Mal Bridgeman, the chairman of Brantham Parish Council, said he was not sure the community could ever come to terms with the events of the past week.

“I think that Noah will live in the memory of everybody,” he said.

“As time goes on, the emotions will quieten down. People will come to terms with it but I think people will just come to terms with it in their own time.”

It was a view echoed by the parish council’s clerk, Sarah Keys, who said: “People were really hopeful and they felt empowered and really wanted to help.

“So I think finding out that they weren’t able to do that anymore was just completely devastating.  

“Not the outcome we wanted, but it has really restored your faith in community and in people and in, well, Brantham.”

Canon Yvonne Tulloch founded the charity Ataloss after the death of her husband in 2008. As chief executive, she campaigns for more support for those navigating grief.

She said that as a society, we are not good at acknowledging grief – preferring to convince ourselves that we will live until old age; because of this, emotions can be suppressed and come to the fore following high-profile cases.

“We assume it’s next of kin who will be the grievers and, while that is correct, it is not the whole picture.

“There are these ripples, there will be people who will grieve who we wouldn’t assume would be doing so.

“Because we’ve been so poor at understanding grief, what can happen even more is when there is a tragedy that is near to us it makes us think it could have been us – particularly when it involves a child and you’re a parent who can relate to it.”

Tulloch added this can be “confusing” because those removed from a tragedy can feel they do not have a right to grieve.

She said: “Those who helped with the search have done so because they felt helpless. Equally there will be those who did not help and feel they should have done more.

“In most cases people will have made their decision for sensible reasons and you have to release yourself from guilt and realise you did the best you could.”

For the family, there is a balance between appreciating the community support, but not being overwhelmed by it, she said.

“The important thing is not to isolate the family because you do not know what to say.

“People fear saying the wrong thing, but it takes nothing more than acknowledging somebody and saying, ‘I’m so sorry, I just want you to know I care’.

“It can mean even more coming from a stranger.”

Annie Owen, who volunteers at Ipswich and East Suffolk Samaritans, said that in the modern world, the overload of information can anaesthetise people to many tragedies.

“But for this pure innocent child, there is nowhere to put our reactions or our grief,” she said.

Owen said it was important that people do not “beat themselves up” over what they did or did not do.

“So if anybody can find the way of looking at themselves and just thinking, this hurts right now because I’m decent, because I’m caring, because I have a heart. And I think that’s a way of easing ourselves through it.”

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