Bravo to Tackley church treasurer Peter Grondona.

When he saw two youths ransacking his church roof for metal, he didn't think twice.

He waded in and put them to flight.

They responded by whacking him with a piece of wood, leaving him with a head wound, from which we hope he soon recovers.

Metal thieves have been in action in many parts of Oxfordshire recently.

With metal prices soaring, there is obviously a lucrative black market.

But when they chose Tackley for their next haul, they had not counted on the defiant 73-year-old.

There was no way he was going to let them get away with stripping the church roof.

Perhaps he was unwise to have a go, particularly at his advanced age, and was lucky not to have been more severely injured.

But we commend his bravery.