On the morning of 24 May, one of the ladies from Fairfield’s Women’s Institute posted on Facebook that the prize-winning postbox topper they had created for the coronation had been removed from the postbox in Dickens Boulevard without their permission. 

There was a flurry of comments, mostly com­miser­ations, but one resident was able to share some information about the people who she  had seen removing it. It wasn’t good news. Since it appeared that it had been taken out of Fairfield Park by car, the consensus was that it was gone for good. 

Nicky Chilvers, however, wasn’t prepared to leave it at that. She set to work to harness the power of social media. Later that evening, she shared a much happier update: “Look what I found … I’ve posted in lots of Facebook groups today & on my biz Instagram to make it too hot to handle! I had a message to say try the Wilbury pub so just popped in. And there it was sitting covering the beers!! They found it in the carpark, a bit worse for wear, & cleaned it up a bit. I loved it & didn’t want it to be lost. Yay!!”

The topper has now been reunited with its creators.