An entire village is being put up for sale!
A knitted copy of much of Mersham was initially created over 20 years ago by members of the village’s Afternoon Club to support a village hall fund-raising campaign.
But now all the knitted houses are being made available to residents to proudly place on their mantlepieces.
The knitted village captures details of everyday life in Mersham. Some residents have been knitted playing cricket, while in other scenes youths have been knitted sneaking a cigarette outside the bus shelter as they wait for the school bus. Flowers fill the gardens and cars occupy the roads.
The Afternoon Club dedicated hundreds of hours to complete the village and followed a routine of taking photos and mocking up cardboard properties to act as templates for the knitters.
The knitted village has been exhibited on numerous occasions over the years, but is now becoming a strain on club members, due to lack of suitable storage space.
So the decision’s been made to split it up.
Joyce McDonath, who helps to run the club, said: “We are all getting older and cannot cope with it. We haven’t got the people to manage it.”
She added that although it will be sad to see the village broken up and sold off, it was ultimately inevitable.
So on Saturday, May 16 from 10am to noon the Afternoon Club will be giving villagers the opportunity to take away a small piece of knitted history.
Residents who originally gave a donation towards the knitted village can take away the knitted version of their property free of charge by collecting the houses from the Mountbatten Hall.
Other items will be sold off and all donations on the day will go towards the village hall fund.