Send letters to lost loved ones as memorial post box arrives in Aylesbury

A new memorial post box which allows people to send ‘Letters to Loved Ones’ to those they have lost has been installed at Aylesbury Vale Crematorium, on Watermead.

The move follows the success of a similar scheme at one of the crematorium’s sister sites, Gedling Crematorium in Nottingham, which proved very popular, with over 100 letters and cards posted in the first few weeks.

Aylesbury Vale and Gedling crematoria are part of Westerleigh Group, the UK’s largest independent owner and operator of crematoria and cemeteries, with 37 sites in England, Scotland, and Wales.

The response to its first memorial post box in Gedling was so positive that the group has now decided to introduce them at all its sites over the coming weeks and months.

The memorial post box initiative was the idea of nine-year-old Matilda, daughter of Gedling’s memorial advisor, Leanne Handy, whose mother passed away in 2017 and father in 2003.

Leanne said: “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.

“We were thrilled by the positive response to the box and I feel very proud. We’ve had amazing comments from members of the community who have used it, about the comfort they have gained from writing letters and cards.

“Matilda and I were even more delighted when we learned that Westerleigh Group was going to install similar boxes across all its crematoria so that people all over the country will be able to use them.

“The memorial post boxes are available for anyone to use, regardless of whether you have held a service for your loved one at any of our crematoria or not.

“The memorial post boxes are available to absolutely anyone who wants to write a message to someone who’s no longer here.”

Matilda’s idea led to her appearing on BBC TV’s The One Show and on Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, and she even received an invitatin to Number 10 Downing Street for an International Women’s Day reception, where she was presented with a Point of Light award by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Lilly Fortune, the site manager at Aylesbury Vale Crematorium, said: “Having seen the response to the first memorial post box at Gedling Crematorium, I am pleased to have installed something similar here at Aylesbury Vale, enabling our bereaved communities to have access to this wonderful asset too.

“Feedback has shown that the process of writing a letter, or perhaps a birthday card, to a lost loved one has already brought therapeutic comfort to many people.

“Now the communities in and around our crematorium can do the same thing. No address or stamps are required on any of the letters or cards.”