VILLAGERS could not believe their eyes when they found their flag had been stolen in broad daylight. Every day for as long as anyone can remember the flag of St Piran has flown over No Man's Land village hall. It was raised and lowered each morning and evening by 84-year-old hall committee chairman Peter Powley, with deaths in the village being marked by flying it at half mast. But last Thursday Mr Powley and his wife Roberta went into Looe at about 2.40pm and when they returned the flag's halyard had been cut and the flag, rope and shackles and pulley had been stolen. 'There was a man painting the hall and he could remember hearing the flag blowing in the wind just before 1pm, so it must have been there then,' said Mrs Powley. 'Whoever did this really is the lowest of the low. Everyone is very upset because flying the flag at the village hall is something of a tradition that we're very proud of,' she said. The theft was reported to the police and anyone with any information is asked to contact them. But there has been something of a happy ending because when Louis Portman, chairman of the Looe branch of the Royal British Legion, heard about the theft, he personally provided the village with a new flag and all of the fittings needed to enable it to fly once more.