Rhyl yarn bomber makes it into new charity book which looks at knitted cosies made across the UK during the pandemic

Rachel Williamson, a retired police officer from Rhyl, has made more than 70 creative knits.

She now features in Lockdown Letterboxes: A very British yarn about the rise of postbox graffiti knitters during Covid by journalist Belinda Goldsmith.

The book, which raises money for charity YoungMinds, looks at the origins of yarn bombing and presents the stories of 16 people, aged 17 to 80, from London to Leeds, from the Home Counties to the Highlands, from the West coast of Wales, who joined the growing army of graffiti knitters during lockdown.

Rachel made a knitted topper to mark 100 years since the Royal British Legion was founded. Picture: Rhyl Toppers / Facebook

Rachel said: "I'm shocked about being in the book. I just can't believe how my retirement is going and there was me thinking I was going to be bored.

"Belinda interviewed me on the phone and kept referring to me as the most prolific post box topper maker which amused me.

"I'm just glad we gave people a reason to smile during a very difficult time and that makes me smile too.

“I’ve made over 70 toppers and I have a list as long as my arm to do still.

"At the start of lockdown, I went to the chemist to get my mum’s prescription and there was a queue with all these miserable faces, so I decided to put a sparkly rainbow topper on a postbox nearby to cheer people up.

"It went bonkers. We were getting up at 6.30 am and going on our bikes to put them up.

"We’ve had several pinched and several damaged, but I’ve come to the conclusion that the good outweighs the bad. I just want to cheer people up and it has kept us positive.”

Ms Goldsmith created the book to champion those behind the knitted toppers made by people across the UK.

“Without fail these knitted cosies make you smile in what has been such a difficult period for everyone and provided a real boost to many communities, but it is the stories behind these woolly works of art that create a very British yarn," she said.

Buy the book by clicking here.