Letters to heaven: White postboxes installed in Sheffield

The white postboxes can be found in six cemeteries and crematoriums in Sheffield

Six postboxes for family and friends to write messages to deceased loved ones have been installed around Sheffield.

The white boxes, located at cemeteries and crematoriums in the city, have been set up by a counsellor aiming to help people process their grief.

Chloe Elizabeth Hill said she wanted to install the postboxes after the deaths of her mother and her closest friend.

Sheffield City Council has agreed to have them in five locations on a six-month trial.

A sixth box is located in the privately-run Grenoside Crematorium.

The boxes can be found at:

• City Road Cemetery

• Burncross Cemetery

• Shiregreen Cemetery

• Hutcliffe Wood Crematorium

• Tinsley Park Cemetery

Ms Hill told BBC Radio Sheffield she was inspired by a similar scheme in a Nottinghamshire crematorium thought up by a nine-year-old girl.

"Even though I know the letters aren't actually going to heaven, I feel like it's nice to have that end point of posting the letter," Ms Hill said.

"It's a release and a relief, you've said what you want to say and you feel like you've passed it on to that person."

Chloe Elizabeth Hill says both her children and her late friend Katie Hawxwell's family have already used the postboxes to send letters

Ms Hill's mother died in 2018 after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, with her closest friend Katie Hawxwell, 39, also dying from the disease in December 2022.

"I wanted my children to be able to write to their 'nannan' and for Katie's children to be able to write to their mum," she said.

"Sometimes it's easier to sit with your thoughts and write a letter, sometimes you can't quite vocalise how you're feeling - you could even just draw a picture, it doesn't have to be words."

Letters will be buried in the City Road Cemetery grounds after the boxes are emptied.

"It's just a message to the person that you've lost who you love," she concluded.