Gedling Crematorium unveils new memorial post box

A new memorial post box at Gedling Crematorium has seen nearly 100 ‘Letters to Heaven’ be posted in less than a month. Families and friends have been writing messages, cards and letters to their loved ones in Heaven since the box was unveiled at the crematorium’s annual Christmas Service of Remembrance on 8 December. The initiative was the idea of Gedling Crematorium’s memorial advisor, Leanne Handy, whose father passed away in 2003 and mother passed away in 2017. Her daughter, Matilda, was the first person to use the post box, posting a poem to her grandparents. Handy said: “I’m thrilled by how well the post box has been received and I feel very proud. We’ve had amazing comments from members of the local community who have used it. “It all came about because Matilda was always saying she wished we could send Mamma and Grandad Birthday and Christmas cards for them to read. She was four when my mum died, and never met my dad. Now the post box is in place, I am so pleased that local people are using it, and taking some comfort from it, as another way of feeling connected to their loved ones.” She added: “The Letters to Heaven post box is accessible within the grounds of Gedling Crematorium, even when the crematorium office itself is closed. We also want to let people know that you do not have to have held a service for a loved one at our crematorium in order to be able to use the post box. “It is available to absolutely anyone who wants to write a message to someone who’s no longer here.” Site manager Giulia McDonough said: “Like all Westerleigh Group’s sites, it’s our aim to have a very positive presence within our local communities, and I am delighted that the Letters to Heaven post box seems to have captured the imagination – and interest – of many people. “We put a post about it on our Facebook page on 12 December, showing an image of the post box in situ, and within just a couple of days we had more than 16,000 people viewing the message and nearly 1,000 liking it. And in less than a month, almost 100 letters have been posted through.”