Wivey Square Post Box gets Olympic Team GB yarn bombing

The Olympic themed post box topper appeared over the weekend in support of Team GB - it has since been confirmed it is an authentic piece by the Wivey Square Post Box group.

The anonymous group of knitters and crocheters have been responsible for a number of guerilla artworks around the town, in a similar fashion to graffiti artist Banksy but with less spray paint and more balls of yarn.

In a secret interview with the group's founder, while identities remained hidden, we were able to find out where the post box decorating idea stemmed from.

They said: "It s because someone had a daft random idea a few years ago, roped a few others into it and it escalated!

"We started the post box after decorating the town square with poppies in 2018 to remember 100 years since the First World War. Initially we decorated the obelisk on the recreation ground in 2016 with poppies and increased the following year.

"For 2018 we adorned the railings with poppies, had a couple of thousand left over so put them around town. When the poppy post box topper came down we just continued.

"All the toppers are posted to the Facebook page as we have done them."

When it comes to themes, it's a team effort to come up with suitable suggestions and the group has continued to collaborate throughout the pandemic.

"The yarn bombing was one of the only things that could be done to celebrate 100 years of the War Memorial Recreation Ground due to lockdowns and restrictions.

"There is a group of us that come up with various ideas at various times.

"We had a summer theme up last month but try not to keep things up for too long, letting it stay clear for weeks so the next one is a surprise.

"One of our group likes the Olympics and thought it would be a good idea, so because we can, we did. Two of us worked on this one.

"Sometimes we have ideas that are current - the vaccine and viruses in January, the Olympics, Remembrance Day, Christmas, sometimes it's just random ideas, hedgehogs last autumn, the lighthouse last month."

And these random adornments are spreading a little bit of joy around the town and further afield thanks to their social media presence.

"We have a number of comments on the page and it seems to lift people's spirits at difficult times and cheers others up, so why not?

"There is no rhyme or reason to what we do, we do it because we can and we have fun and it gives us something to do on the long winter nights.

"The postie's love it, the community love it. Ex Wivey people keep an eye on it from Canada to Australia. Wivey Square Post Box is watched worldwide!"