Ironwork centre to provide special post boxes for project to help bereaved children
Bereaved children in the county could soon have the opportunity of writing letters to deceased relatives, thanks to a novel idea prompted by a young girl in Nottingham.
A pilot project, entitled Letters to Heaven, is set to get underway in the county with post boxes provided to local cemeteries by the British Ironwork Centre, based on the outskirts of Oswestry.
Clive Knowles, chairman of the centre, said: "We are preparing to supply these historic re-production post boxes to all main cemeteries in the county.
"We want to know how the public feels about the idea and what we should do with the letters after they are mailed.
"I saw news about a young child in Nottinghamshire who wanted to reach out to her grandparents.
"Someone put a post box at the local cemetery and that facilitated her imagination to connect with those who she had loved and lost.
"It was a fabulous idea.
"We already make these historic re-production post boxes.
"We are now preparing a pilot project which will see an initial ten boxes provided for the larger cemeteries, which have a dedicated children's area.
"The first is expected to be installed in Oswestry Cemetery at the beginning of next month if the town council grants permission.
"This project is something that is very easy for us to support as we already make these re-production post boxes.
"However, we are open to public suggestions about what to do with the letters.
"They might be burned as some faiths believe that such letters find their way through the environment to relatives.
"We hope people will get in touch with ideas and we will take the best of these and try to implement them."
