Families of the bereaved are now able to send ‘letters to heaven’ thanks to post boxes donated by Community Spirit. The Community Spirit charity has purchased two post boxes which have been installed at the town’s two cemeteries at Stephenson Way and School Aycliffe Lane.
Letters posted by grieving family members will be turned into compost and used on flower beds within the cemeteries. Community Spirit trustee, Joanne Jones, said: “writing letters could help people with the bereavement process. I was inspired by a similar initiative a few miles down the road in a Bishop Auckland cemetery and thought it would be ideal for Newton Aycliffe.”
“It can help a lot of people with the bereavement process, having somewhere to write, we have a lot of people now who don’t necessarily have a grave, but they’ve got somewhere now, to come, to where they can put their thoughts and feelings down and send it to loved ones.”
Lee Williams, the grounds maintenance services coordinator for Great Aycliffe Town Council, said “the post boxes are another outlet for people to field their grief and I believe it will be beneficial for young children who often struggle with the grieving process. They can now send birthday cards, Christmas cards, letters to Grandad or whoever it may be and the idea that these children and adults can actually put the words down on paper and not be judged by what they’re writing, or what they’re saying, it hopefully gives them that sense of relief.”
The contents of the post boxes will be periodically emptied by the town council and stored confidentially until the letters are shredded and put into their own compost bin which will be used to feed the flowers and plants across the two cemeteries.
