sisters

My mum and her sister live in a small seaside town on the East coast of Yorkshire near Scarborough called Filey.

It is an old family tradition on my mum’s side to go there for holidays. Growing up, my mum’s parents would take mum and her sister to the sea side, to see the sea, ride the donkeys, play on the beach, build sand castles, look in rock pools, have a dip in the cold, North Sea and have fish and chips!

And this tradition continued when mum and her sister had their own families. Me and my sister, who grew up in Leeds, which is an hour and a half drive away from the coast, would be taken by mum and dad to do the same. We even had a static caravan on a holiday caravan camping site on the cliff tops for years growing up, where we would go for the school holidays.

In later years, when I was a teenager, my auntie and uncle moved their with their two small children (our cousins) and then nearly 20 years ago, my parents, who were in their 60’s moved to Filey too. So our family has lots of connections to Filey. It’s such a lovely small town and most of the people living there have generations of family preceding them. It’s a holiday hotspot and in season it is quite different from the quieter times. Either way, it’s lovely.

crocheted tops on post boxes

Like most other places around the country, there are lots of clubs and people running voluntary groups, artists and creative people living in Filey.

I’m not sure when it began, but as you you can see, these beautiful photos of post boxes with crocheted tops on them, appeared in Filey.

At the beginning of 2020, with a hunch that something was amiss, I decided to go up and stay with my parents to make sure they were ok, and I ended up being there for most of 2020 and 2021 (we lost my dad due to cancer). Even thought I have spent many holidays and lots of time in Filey, ‘living’ there was a whole different experience. I feel so at home there.

One day in the town centre, mum took me to see the ‘post box on the corner’ and to my delight, it had a crocheted scene of Christmas fitted over the top. My first reaction was ‘Oh! How wonderful! Who did it?’ And mum had no idea. It’s a mystery to us.

One day, coming back from the shops we noticed another top on the post box on the end of her road, and since then, mum has sent me a few photos which her sister has taken (thank you AJ) of different tops that have appeared. We have only seen them on the same 2 post boxes, but if another pops up, I wouldn’t be surprised. They are so cheerful and so lovely and whoever is doing it deserves a huge cake and a bunch of flowers, because they honestly are so bright and cheerful, they command you stop and look and smile.

I imagine that there are photos of them floating around all over the place, with people, locals and tourists alike, standing next to them smiling. They are so uplifting. So we decided to put this short blog together to just say thank you to whoever the mystery crocheter or crocheters are - and to thank you form the bottom of our hearts. You really are bringing some joy to the world!

Love is in the air, ‘Be Kind’ bears and the ‘2022 Bear’ at the end of mum and her sister’s street.

I will write some more about my adventures in Filey over the years, and about it’s past’s fishing community.

Also, one day, I hope my sister will share some photos of her crochet work, both mum and my sister can make anything with crochet needles. I have never got to grips with it, and seem to follow my dad’s side of the family in needlework. (And hurry up and finish my shawl sis)!!!

The latest top on the ‘post box on the corner’ is this one with all the birds and flowers - it is for Easter and Spring!