Tostock: 13ft crocheted Christmas Tree erected in village

Tostock, near Bury St Edmunds, is the home of the crocheted tree, which was made by 17 people over the course of nine months, starting in March.

The tree, with a star on top, stands at just over 13ft tall, and will be the village's official tree for this year.

Sarah Reader, project coordinator, said: "I started Googling different crochet ideas and came across the tree and so I thought I'd put a notice out and see if anyone fancied doing it.

The tree project started in March (Image: Jim Langlois)

"I was overwhelmed by the response. We started making the squares and it got a lot of new faces involved so friendships were also formed along the way.

"Amazingly, we had the tree finished by July, so was then passed onto the frame makers to think of the design.

"We didn't want to make the frame too early as we had nowhere to store it, but lots of people go involved.

"My husband works as an engineer so he engineered a lot of bits and we got another chap who helped and it all came together last weekend.

The names of all those that participated in the project (Image: Jim Langlois)

"It was quite amazing really."

The tree was erected on Sunday November 27, and has been well received by people in the village.

Mrs Reader continued: "We have been amazed by the response.

"It's managed to get onto Facebook pages and apparently from people who live on the green around the tree, there are so many people driving past and getting out to take pictures.

The mini postbox topper (Image: Sarah Reader)

"It is a bit of joy in the world and everyone's feedback has been very good."

A mini version of the tree has also been created and put on top of one of the postboxes in the village.

Mrs Reader continued: "Once we'd finished all the squares, everyone was so enthusiastic to keep doing other things, so we have helped with postbox toppers throughout this year.

"We even had a craft stall at the local village fair recently which has given us a little bit of money to help next year's project."

The group has said they will do a bigger project next year, but are yet to decide what.

The crocheted Christmas tree (Image: Jim Langlois)