Who is behind Slough's knitted postbox toppers?

Now knitting group 'Knit your socks off' has laid claim to several toppers in the area, with co-founder Sbba Siddique, 54, from Slough revealing the touching reason the group formed eight years ago.

The Asian Star Radio presenter said the group was founded by herself and her friend Samina Hussain, who was diagnosed with breast cancer.

"I knitted Sam a pair of bright pink chemo socks to take to chemo with her as chemo makes you cold," she said.

"When we went to the unit people loved them and she wore them religiously every single week."

Deciding to share her love for knitting, Sbba knitted a further 20 pairs of socks and gave them out at the hospital.

A community group quickly formed around the idea and together they knitted 200 pairs of socks. "We donated them and the rest is pretty much history," Sbba said.

Knit your socks off has continued to grow ever since and this year alone has supported 22 charities by making over 7,000 items, including poppies for Bracknell's The Lexicon poppy display and Slough Royal British Legion display.

"The postbox toppers are a new addition to our repertoire. We started them just pre-COVID and we were part of a project called Love Slough and had six toppers in the Slough area to brighten up the place.

"Then Covid hit and everything went online. But we have carried on with the toppers ever since."

The group currently have two postbox toppers in Slough.

These can be found in Wexham Park Hospital outside the maternity unit and outside Cippenham Primary School - where Santa can be found stuck in his chimney.

Previous designs have included a celebration topper for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, a Coronation topper, a breast cancer awareness boob topper and now a Christmas display of Santa with his elves and snowmen.

Sbba said they were hesitant to do the breast cancer display due to concerns about people finding it offensive, however, they were surprised at the support.

The group heavily support Wexham Park Hospital with Sbba also having gone through her own cancer journey more recently.

Speaking on the importance of the breast cancer topper, Sbba said: "It was important for us because it was the hospital where we both received our treatment and we wanted to normalise the conversation around talking about your physical health and talking about cancer.

"Within a South Asian community talking about cancer is still very taboo and there are barriers to accessing healthcare and there are a lot of health inequalities and we champion that with the work we do.

"The toppers were a great conversation starter."

Now attention has shifted to the festive season, with the women continuing to meet up once a month at gatherings of up to 25 people.

"These ladies are absolutely amazing, they are like machines, they knit so fast and they crochet so fast," Sbba said.

Together the group comes up with a theme for a topper and delegates sections of the design, which are later sewn into place.

"Putting it together usually takes a couple of days - but it takes three to four weeks for a whole topper as people knit at their own paces."

Projects are also run on a monthly basis, with last month seeing the group knit hats for Slough Outreach and this month seeing donations going to a baby bank - including hats and booties.