PENSIONERS in a town are “over the moon” at the reinstatement of their favourite bench.

Elderly people in Waltham Abbey were dismayed when their well-loved seat outside the post office in Sun Street, was targeted for removal last year.

They even held a sit-in protest to save the bench, but it was eventually taken away to make way for a cashpoint.

Now, after a year's campaigning, Waltham Abbey Pensioners' Action Group, have seen their bench restored and returned to a new location outside the Coop thanks to the help of the town council.

Action group chairman Terry Hutt said: “We are over the moon. It's important to me and everyone else. There's lots of pensioners who walk down Sun Street who need to sit down and rest. There's disabled people and when I take them out they need to stop and sit down. That's what makes benches important.”

Fresh from his victory, Mr Hutt said his group would now turn their hand to seeing a new bench installed to replace the one which was recently taken away from outside the White Lion pub.

He said: “The pub bench was there a long, long time and we really want that put back somewhere in Sun Street.”