By Andrew Brown Stand up For Southport
A beautiful 8ft high crochet Christmas tree has mysteriously appeared on a roundabout in Southport – all thanks to the amazing Southport Hookers.
Southport’s guerrilla street artists, who won a Grand Pride Of Sefton Arts Awards earlier this year, say it’s the ‘piece de resistance’ of an incredibly busy year when they’ve wowed members of the public with their impressive creations.
The Southport Hookers is made up of artistit volunteers who want to spread ‘crochet kindness’ throughout Southport and beyond.
They meet regularly in a secret location to plan the artwork they’re going to create, and how many of them it will take to complete each scheme.
The latest is the crochet Christmas tree, standing 8ft tall, and positioned on the roundabout at Roe Lane in Churchtown thanks to the logistical support of volunteers from Southport Royal British Legion.
Suzanne Goatcher from Southport Hookers said: “So the piece de resistance is finally ready and has now been installed with much-needed help from the amazing team at Southport Royal British Legion.
“You can see our work on the roundabout at the Churchtown end of Roe Lane.
“This one has been a labour of love and we are so relieved we managed to get it finished just in the nick of time!
“The photos don’t do it justice. It’s 8ft tall so hopefully it will bring a few smiles and cheer to the Southport community.
“And that’s a wrap! We are all shattered and need a well earned rest over christmas.
“Some of the squares have been made from the Southport community so this project has also been a real community effort.”
Southport Hookers have also created the festive postbox toppers, and other postbox toppers, that you can see in locations throughout Southport.
They recently knitted a crochet Father Christmas, who originally sat on the bench outside the Busybody’s shop in Birkdale Village before moving outside St Cuthbert’s Church in Churchtown Village.
In October, Southport Hookers made an incredible ‘Poppy Drape’, made from 10,000 knitted poppies, which was installed in the Memorial Gardens on Lord Street in Southport town centre ahead of Remembrance Sunday.
They made a series of crochet artworks which decorated part of Victoria Park in August as part of the celebrations for the 100th anniversary Southport Flower Show.
Inside the red postbox in Birkdale Village, you can find a crochet Snowman and Snowdog, which has delighted local children.
If you see artwork by the Southport Hookers please take pictures – we’d love to see them in our Stand Up For Southport Facebook group.
Do you have a story for Stand Up For Southport? Please message Andrew Brown via Facebook here or email me at: mediaandrewbrownn@gmail.com
