A Kesgrave mum hopes to bring ‘post boxes to heaven’ to Ipswich, so that grieving families can nurture an ongoing link with their loved ones. 

Christina Aquilina is hoping that funeral directors will help her to implement post boxes in churchyards and cemeteries around Ipswich. 

These post boxes would offer a place where grieving people could post their letters and cards to those they have lost. 

The idea was inspired by nine-year-old Matilda Handy, who had the idea of installing post boxes to heaven in her village of Lambley, Nottingham, after losing both of her grandparents. 

Ipswich Star: Post boxes to heaven have already been installed in several cemeteries around the UK. Image: SWNSPost boxes to heaven have already been installed in several cemeteries around the UK. Image: SWNS (Image: SWNS)

Ipswich Star: A plaque explaining the post boxes to heaven in Nottingham. Image: SWNSA plaque explaining the post boxes to heaven in Nottingham. Image: SWNS (Image: SWNS)

Miss Aquilina said that she hoped the post boxes could be a source of comfort to others. 

“Grief weighed very heavily on me, and I found it difficult,” she explained. 

Both her parents are buried in the Lawn Cemetery in Ipswich, and Miss Aquilina visits them regularly. Her mother passed away when Miss Aquilina was just 19, while her father died just eight weeks after she became a parent herself to her 12-year-old son. 

“Grief isn’t a linear process. Some people think that you go through the stages of grief, and then you’re done – but it can hit you very hard at times,” explained Miss Aquilina. 

“At Christmas, I want to be able to send my mum a Christmas card.” 

The posted letters would not be read, but would be collected and turned into a compostable pulp.

Wild flower seeds would then be added to create ‘seed bombs’, which Miss Aquilina suggested could perhaps be sold by churches and hospices. 

If you are a funeral director and are interested in sponsoring a post box to heaven, email abygail.fossett@newsquest.co.uk