Swindon resident spends hours making coronation postbox toppers

Ahead of the crowning of King Charles III on Saturday, Laura Sharp has graced three postboxes in her local area with crocheted toppers.

Two of them feature a crown while the other has miniature woolly versions of Charles and Queen Consort Camilla.

The 56-year-old's crocheted creations are based on patterns from fellow crocheters on Etsy.

Laura Sharp knitted this postbox topper in Abbey Meads to mark the coronation of King Charles III (Image: PA)

Laura, who is retired and used to work in the water industry, said: “I thought I would do a couple of crowns because they look nice, and then made gnome versions of Charles and Camilla, but adapted the second pattern to make my design bigger and to incorporate more colours.

“They just sort of evolve, you get an idea and just go for it.”

Mrs Sharp previously made toppers for the late Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee, which she said came in handy this time around.

She added: “Rather than chucking them away, I washed them, dismantled what was on it, and then it’s ready to use another time.

“The one with the King and Queen on top took longer because they’re a bit more fiddly to make.

“I can spend anywhere between 20 to 50 hours on a topper.”

It takes her roughly five hours to crochet a base, while a crown takes around 20 hours to complete.

Laura Sharp knitted this postbox topper in Peatmoor (Image: PA)

Laura has crocheted for roughly three years, said she is “absolutely addicted” to it, and has been spurred on to keep at it by “lovely” responses from the public.

She joked: “I don’t like seeing naked postboxes anymore – I just don’t have the time to do them all though.

“Sometimes you go down to the shops and see people standing around it taking photographs, and that’s really nice, and the community really look after them too.”

Despite not having any strong opinions about the monarchy, Mrs Sharp said she will celebrate the coronation with her friend who is hosting a garden party.

“You probably won’t find me with loads of Charles mugs, but it’s something worth celebrating and I just want to inject some positivity with my work,” she said.

Swindon will be getting into the spirit of the historic occasion by hosting street parties and events throughout the bank holiday weekend.

Buckingham Palace previously announced that Princess Anne will be attending some of the festivities in the town on Sunday.

Laura Sharp knitted this postbox topper in Peatmoor (Image: PA)