Thirty-five miniature knitted dolls of influential people from Swindon went on display at Swindon Museum and Art Gallery yesterday.

The dolls were crafted by Swindon’s own Stich and Bitch, a twenty-strong knitting and stitching group, and will be on display until the end of the April to raise money for local mental health charity Swindon Mind.

Among the figures are Diana Dors, suffragette Edith New, professional boxer Jamie Cox, Mayor Maureen Penny, footballer Don Rogers, engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, as well as Swindon’s town crier and The Grey Lady ghost.

Tracy Major of Stich and Bitch said: “It’s taken a while to make them but it’s been really good fun and I’m really pleased at how it’s all turned out.”

Swindon’s Mayor Maureen Penny was at Swindon Museum and Art Gallery to see the likeness of her own doll. “It’s wonderful, I’m really amazed," she said. "If it’s for Swindon Mind I’m definitely going to buy it. The outfit is absolutely true to form. It’s really good.

“I’m pleased they’ve got Brunel in here because Swindon wouldn’t be the same place without him,” she added.

The idea for the dolls came about after the group visited the Alexandra Palace Knitting and Stitching Show in October and members suggested knitting a model of Swindon town centre after seeing a model-size knitted village.

Suzy Cowper of Stich and Bitch Said: “It’s people who have had an influence on Swindon in some way.

"But some of them are people who you will know. But there’s also people like the harmonica man from town who played the harmonic in town. So we all know who is he but we don’t know him. So some are a bit obscure which is really nice.

“Some of them aren’t big celebrities but for Swindon they’re people who we knew and who enhanced our lives.”

This isn’t the first time the group have raised money for a good cause through their knitting.

In 2015 they crotched a 4.5kg, 620cm wide and 200cm high bra, which was displayed at the Brunel Shopping Centre and was sold on eBay to raise money for breast cancer.