A south Essex schoolboy has unveiled a special postbox outside his family's home where youngsters can post letters to Santa - with his own knitted elf topper.

Stanley Jackson, who is from Stanford-le-Hope, created an elf topper, which sits atop a postbox he bought from Home Bargains and has on his drive at home.

“Last year, I made a snowman topper, which I put on a postbox near us, and kept putting toppers on that postbox but they kept getting taken,” the 13-year-old told PA.

“So, what we thought, is if I bought my own postbox and then I made a postbox topper, then it would be a nice thing for people to come and put their letters to Santa in.

“The elf is Santa’s elf, who has come and put up a postbox to take the letters back to Santa.”

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It took the youngster – who started crocheting during lockdown and posts his work under the name Stanley’s Crochet Workshop on social media – a couple of days to make.

He said it “feels very nice” to see children coming to the postbox to put letters inside.

“After school, I’ve been sitting by the window watching in case anyone walks past just to see their reaction,” he added.

As for advice for young people hoping to get into crochet, he said: “Never give up, even if it does get difficult – just keep going because after a while, you will pick it up and you will start getting better.”

Stanley’s mother Kristina, who is 39 and works in a senior school, added: “Me and his dad are so proud of him.

“He’s always looking for the next thing that he can crochet and he’s raised so much money for so many different charities from his work.”