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Special postboxes have been installed at six cemeteries across Sheffield to help people feel closer to loved ones they have sadly lost.

Anyone is able to use the white ‘Letters to Heaven’ postboxes to send messages to family or friends who are no longer with them. They might want to use one to send a birthday card, an anniversary card or a Mother’s or Father’s Day card to let that special person know they are not forgotten, or they may want to use it to share their feelings, words left unspoken they are desperate to express, or special news they are no longer able to share face to face.

The postboxes are in place now at:

Grenoside Crematorium
Shiregreen Cemetery
Hutcliffe Wood Crematorium
Burncross Cemetery
Tinsley Park Cemetery
City Road Cemetery.

One of the new white Letters to Heaven postboxes which have been placed at six cemeteries around Sheffield and (left) Chloe Hill, who started the campaign to get them introduced, with her son Noah Lawrence, aged 6; Chloe's late friend Katie Hawxwell's son, Jax Jackson, 5; and Katie's cousin, Renae Risden, 6.

The postboxes were installed following a fundraising appeal by Chloe Hill, whose friend Katie Hawxwell lost her battle with cancer last year, aged just 39, leaving behind three children, including a son, Jax, who is only five years old. Chloe felt the postboxes would help Katie’s children and others who are struggling to come to terms with their bereavement.

More than £1,300 was donated and Chloe said the postboxes had been installed on a six-month trial basis. She is looking for volunteers to help empty them when they get too full. She has also invited people to share photos of themselves using the postboxes on Facebook or Instagram with the hashtags #LettersToHeavenSheffield or #LettersToHeaven.

Chloe, who is a counsellor, told how her late friend Katie had been ‘amazing’ and were she still around she would have thought the postboxes were a great idea.

Chloe added: “I’m just really happy they are now installed and available for people to use, and for fellow counsellors to be able to use this as a resource to help people to process their grief and to have a connection to loved ones lost.”

Letters to Heaven: White postboxes installed at six Sheffield cemeteries to bring loved ones closer

Chloe added: “I’m just really happy they are now installed and available for people to use, and for fellow counsellors to be able to use this as a resource to help people to process their grief and to have a connection to loved ones lost.”