// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
'Everybody was as one': Reverend reflects on search effort for Noah Woods
Noah Woods was playing at a playground with a relative before he went missing
The love shown by a community who rallied to search for missing three-year-old Noah Woods was a "thread of positivity" amongst the tragedy, a reverend has said.
Noah disappeared from a playground in Brantham, Suffolk, at about 15:00 BST on Tuesday after becoming separated from a relative.
At least 1,300 people helped to try to find him in the following 24 hours, before a child's body was discovered on Wednesday afternoon at a nearby pond.
Reverend Chris Willis said: "Everybody was as one... what we saw throughout was a real coming together of people and a willingness to work together which, in spite of the deep sadness, was a thread of real positivity seeing how people cared."
Reverend Chris Willis said he hoped the positivity and love seen during the search would continue
About 100 bunches of flowers have been left at the playground where he was last seen and more than £21,000 has been donated to a fundraiser to support his family.
Willis, parish rector of St Michael's Church in Brantham, said he had "never seen anything like" the outpouring of support.
"I was moved, overwhelmed and staggered actually that people were coming from far and wide," he said.
"It was hundreds, even into the thousands, coming together with one deep, common concern to find a little boy, who longed to find a happy ending for him and his family.