THE Forest of Dean Crematorium is to install a ‘postbox to heaven’ so people can send letters to deceased loved ones - after a nine-year-old girl came up with the idea. 

Grieving Matilda Handy, from Nottingham, suggested the heartwarming idea for her local crematorium while looking for a way to express her emotions after her grandparents passed away.

The schoolgirl wanted to send her late gran and granddad cards and letters so her mum approached Gedling Crematorium, in Lambley, Nottingham, where she works.

Crematorium bosses responded by installing an old postbox painted white just before Christmas, which led to more than 100 letters being posted. 

The postboxes are now set to be implemented at 36 other sites across the country, including at Forest of Dean Crematorium on Speech House Road, after Matilda’s moving tribute to her grandparents proved so popular. 

Matilda first thought of her idea when her post office worker grandmother Pat died in 2017 before she also sadly lost her grandad Keith in November last year. 

Mum Leanne, 45, hopes her daughter’s heartfelt creation can help ease the suffering grief causes and be of comfort on anniversaries and holidays.

Leanne, from Arnold, Nottingham, said: “My mum passed away in 2017 and since then Matilda has always said she wishes we could send cards and letters to her mama in heaven.

“My mum worked in a post office for 25 years in our local community and it just seemed fitting for her. 

“Matilda was so used to being around postboxes and letters and always wanted to send mama one. 

She added that since the box have been installed, people young and old have been using it everyday.

“People find real comfort in sending something, whether it’s a child drawing a picture or an older person sending something to their loved ones. 

“The art of writing something helps with the process.” 

Matilda said she hopes the postbox can aid others dealing with grief in the same way that it has helped her.

She said: “We’re doing these to be used by people when they walk past.

“It’s been hard because my grandad passed away in November 2022 so it definitely did help me.

“It’s just a very nice way to express my feelings and send a letter to them and to say how much I love them.”

Matilda was the first to use the postbox and sent a letter containing a moving poem which read: “If heaven had a phone, Then I’d give you a ring. Just hear your voice and tell you, How my day has been. 

“But it doesn’t have a phone, To make missing you better, So instead I write my feelings down. And send them in a letter. 

“I know that you’ll be watching, As I write down every word, And I’ll feel it when you reply, The unwritten and unheard.”

The Westerleigh group, which own the crematorium, is now introducing the boxes to all of its 36 UK sites - as well as three new ones due to open later this year.

Matthew Brook, head of memorialisation at Westerleigh Group, said: “Matilda’s postbox has touched hearts of so many bereaved people across the country.

“Priding ourselves on serving our communities with exceptional care, we are delighted to be installing similar postboxes across all Westerleigh Group crematoria and helping many others who are grieving the loss of their loved one in a similar way.

“We look forward to welcoming more people to our beautiful crematoria grounds and finding comfort in placing their letters to loved ones in a post box.”