Banksy has been hard at work and postboxes in Huddersfield and the Colne Valley are bursting with Pride!
Colne Valley Yarn Banksy – aka Sue, Rowena and Kate – has been brightening up the streets to mark Pride month.
Rainbow-coloured crocheted toppers have appeared on postboxes in Huddersfield town centre, Linthwaite, Slaithwaite and Marsden.
Colne Valley Yarn Banksy aim to spread a little joy through crochet and the postbox toppers celebrate Pride and also the late Batley & Spen MP Jo Cox, who would have celebrated her 50th birthday on June 22.
Jo Cox was stabbed to death in Birstall on June 16 2016. In her maiden speech, Jo famously said: “We are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us.”
The toppers have brought a smile to the faces of everyone who sees them but they’ve proved a little too tempting as some have disappeared!
Kate said: “We were all profoundly affected back in 2016 by the brutal death of Jo Cox as an act of hate.
“Although we never met Jo – and she wasn’t our MP as we are all Huddersfield residents – we feel a great affinity to her as a working mum, a committed socialist and the lovely sentiments in her maiden speech, so we put part of that on the labels that we fastened to the toppers.
“As a group, we feel passionately about Pride and as a mum myself to an LGBTQ young person, I feel it is my duty to support the cause.
“I see clear evidence that although there’s much more acceptance of LGBTQ people and a strong LGBTQ community in the area, there are pockets of prejudice that I hear on a daily basis.”
It’s not all about Pride and the quietly campaigning crocheters plan to mark other occasions such as Armistice Day or Black History Month for example.
“We all feel that sometimes a calmer, more creative approach gets the message across,” added Kate.
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