DELIGHTED passers-by were given an early festive treat after a public-spirited knitter gave a seasonal makeover to a letter box.
The pillar box on Tyne Avenue, Didcot, was given a woolly top recreating a Yuletide scene of colourful knitted lights, a snowman wearing a hat and matching scarf, a reindeer with a red nose, and a small cream sack decorated with a blue ribbon carrying two candy canes.
It also has a Christmas tree decorated with white tinsel, colourful bells topped with a white angel and Santa going down a chimney – his legs up in the air.
Read more: Yarn-bombing in Oxfordshire
Debbie Richards, a 61-year-old grandma from Didcot, created the scene hoping to bring smiles to people's faces.
She shared a few pictures of it on a local social media group without expecting much from people’s reactions.
To her surprise, her post reached over 200 comments, was shared 468 times and got over 11,000 reactions; the group admins have now turned off commenting for the post.
Debbie said she was not expecting it to go down so well, saying she just enjoys knitting the toppers and seeing people's smiles.
She said: “Seeing the comments, saying how nice it looked and how it made people smile, made me feel very proud.
“I just get joy out of it. I never made toys before, I used to crochet blankets and baby things for my grandchildren.”
Debbie decided to start knitting post box toppers after one of her 11 grandchildren asked her to get one for their post box, as it is by the park, the schools and the nursery.
Her first knitted topper was for this year’s Halloween.
She does not follow a pattern; she creates everything as she goes along, and it did not take her long to finish this one as she started it while finishing the first.
The Halloween creation lasted around four weeks, and she hopes the new one lasts as long.
And she has future plans for the pillar box.
Debbie said: “I feel now I have claimed that post box, so now I have to start to think what to knit next. I know the children will be looking out for it.”
People praised Debbie and described her topper as “amazing, “beautiful” and “fantastic".
Cheryl Lincoln, from the town, said: “It's amazing. It brings joy to lots of people!”.
Tracy O'Neill wrote: “It brought a huge smile from me,” while Shirley Jeffcock said: “Absolutely amazing... well done. I love it. Keep up the amazing work”.
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