Euros post box topper appears in city

Ms Cockroft said she was already thinking of her next design to celebrate the Olympics later this summer

A Herefordshire crocheter has made a post box topper to celebrate the start of Euro 2024.

The tournament starts on Friday and Sue Cockroft, 73, set up her topper on Ross Road in Hereford to mark the occasion.

The topper features a footballer with a curly perm standing next to black-and-white crocheted footballs, while flags of the competing countries are draped around the green base.

England's first match is against Serbia on Sunday at 20:00 BST.

Ms Cockroft said she will gradually remove flags as teams get knocked out of the tournament, and hoped the England flag would be the last one standing .

Explaining her love for the craft, she said: " [I spend] 25 to 30 hours of actual work...[and use] probably about 400-500g (1lb) of wool.

The retired teacher's previous designs have included children's TV character Bagpuss, crocheted books for exam season and a topper commemorating D Day veterans.

Ms Cockroft said she has been stopped and thanked in the street for her toppers bringing joy to people as they drive or walk by, and asked what the inspiration for the next one will be.

"At the traffic lights when people come into to town for work... people appreciate that they have something to look at while they're queuing."

She said her biggest challenge with the toppers was the sun fading the wool's colour and making her knitted footballer's hair "turn grey".