Histon’s ‘guerrilla’ knitters return to decorate the Cambridgeshire village

The undercover knitters – who brought very welcome Christmas joy to Histon in December 2020 – are back doing their thing again this year.

Around the village, seven different knitted postbox ‘toppers’ depicting seasonal scenes have appeared (installed under the cover of darkness), courtesy of a number of village residents who also happen to be pretty good at knitting.

The project was organised, as it was in 2020, by local resident Alison Turnbull, who also runs Half Moon Creative Arts, which supports community-based and public art.

One of those taking part in the knitting project is Jane Barrett who, along with her husband Mike who did the electrics, was part of the team that worked on the Post Office box top on the High Street: ‘Carols at Mole End’, inspired by Wind in the Willows.

Jane, who also participated last year, said: “It really seems to have taken off, there are lots of people involved in it. What Alison [Turnbull] has basically done is she’s created a pool of very enthusiastic, clever and creative crafters in the village.

“There’s enough people each time now to put some toppers together – and some of them were put together really quickly, and others took a lot longer. What’s really nice is that people in the village seem to really love them. We’ve noticed that people go past and they’re smiling, and they bring their kids to have a look at the toppers.

“It’s kind of whimsical and mad but I think people really like it and it just creates a nice atmosphere in the village, I think – we all need a bit of cheering up, don’t we?”

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