GAZETTE readers moved by the story of a World War Two New Zealand pilot's collapsed headstone have responded with generous offers of money.

In last week's paper, lifelong Cark-in-Cartmel resident Frank Lomas told of his disappointment at a lack of financial help to repair the gravestone of the sergeant, whose plane crashed on April 21, 1943.

Aged just 21, Noel Leonard Pittendrigh of the Royal New Zealand Air Force had been based at RAF Cark, at Flookburgh, said Mr Lomas.

Villagers came together to remember him after his fatal crash in the Carnforth/Warton area, and he was buried at Flookburgh churchyard.

After last Thursday's story about lack of funds for the £84 repair costs, Mr Lomas said people had responded immediately. "The Gazette had hardly hit the streets when we had a lady ring to say that she would pay the lot, and she wanted to remain anonymous," said the 82-year-old.

Mr Lomas was also stopped in the street by a man offering £50; had a £20 note put into his hand by a woman in the village shop; and received two phone calls offering £84 and £100.

Mr Lomas said men like the New Zealander were true "heroes" who had given their lives for others and deserved to be remembered.

Gazette reader Christine Moore, of Oxenholme, said the story was very "poignant" for her because it echoed the death of her father-in-law, also a 21-year-old pilot in the Second World War.

Ray Moore was shot down over the sea while flying a party of Americans to Holland. "He shouldn't even have been on duty," she said. "He volunteered because nobody else was available."

Mrs Moore has offered to give £50 to help repair the NZ pilot's grave and said: "This poor lad was so far from home and his parents away in New Zealand. That's what sparked it off for me.

Mark and Lucy Leather, meanwhile, saw the Gazette while staying at their caravan near Kendal and wanted to help. Mr Leather, of Tatham, near Hornby, said: "We just read the paper and thought, how sad. This guy obviously gave a good service to the country many moons ago, but shouldn't be forgotten."

Cark villager Mr Lomas said the repairs would be done by Mossop, the "marvellous" Dalton-in-Furness stonemasonry firm. Money left over is likely to be given to maintaining the WW2 memorial clock at St John the Baptist Church, Flookburgh.

According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website, the pilot was the son of Harold Oliver and Florence Edith Pittendrigh, of Auckland City. A newspaper clipping of his death is on Auckland Museum's online cenotaph pages.