Women angry post box topper stolen again

THE women behind the post box toppers in Henley have expressed their disappointment after one display was vandalised and another stolen.

Alison Engleby and Julie Fareham Brown are members of the Henley branch of the Women’s Institute who enjoy crocheting and knitting the toppers with four other members.

Their latest creations, to mark the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, have seen the mascots and an Eiffel Tower figure ripped off one piece and five rabbits on another one stolen.

Mrs Engleby, 64, from Henley, said: “We feel so disheartened. We put so much love and care and time and effort into them. Everyone in Henley loves them.

“It’s such a shame. We think, ‘should we carry on’ but then everyone in Henley bolsters us up saying, ‘you must, you must’. Everyone takes it quite to heart. I think a lot of the town people do when they’re stolen.

“The construction takes hours, putting them all on and trying to make them so they aren’t stolen. They’re not suitable as toys. They’ve got wire in them and stuffing. I would be horrified if somebody stole them for their child.”

Mrs Engleby, who started crocheting the toppers after the coronavirus lockdown, said they had securely tied the post box toppers the night before the Olympics started.

The topper with rabbits dressed in olympic medals was outside the Gabriel Machin butchers in Market Place but was stolen last week and the other one was vandalised in Hart Street at the weekend.

Mrs Engleby said: “We give up a lot of our time. We pay for a lot of our wool but a lot has been donated by the people of Henley.

“When you spend so much time doing it, it’s very disheartening.

“We all contribute left, right and centre from them. There’s the six of us from the Women’s Institute and some do more than some and some do more than others.

“Julie did the main ones. I constructed them all and did the bases for them all. Julie did all the figures apart from the Eiffel Tower, which I did.”

Ms Fareham Brown, who is retired, said it would take two days to make one of the rabbits. She said: “We are thinking about these things quite early on. We get all of the right colours and make them as nice as we can.

“It is just a shame that there are a small minority of people who do not appreciate the work that has gone into it. Just by leaving them there, it is showing that we like seeing them.

“I think a lot of people feel that it is disrespectful and we are all so proud of our town and thinking about how we can make our town special to visitors. They make people smile.”

The Women’s Institute coronation toppers, which were made last year, were also stolen.

Mrs Engleby added: “The coronation ones disappeared the evening of the coronation but they were dumped outside a church in Marlow and they all got back to us. We just want them to realise how it affects us, the town and the knock on to the town.”