Covid: Chapel's first postcode since 1869 gets it broadband

A chapel has been given a postcode - after standing for 151 years.

Siloh chapel in Chwilog near Pwllheli, Gwynedd, did not have a postcode but needed one in order to have a phone line and broadband installed.

Services will now be streamed while coronavirus restrictions are in place.

"We had started broadcasting services on Zoom from the house and were looking beyond that and seeing it was something we needed to continue," said the Reverend Aled Davies.

"After hearing from BT that there was no postcode for us, we went to the Royal Mail. We had to have a post box installed and take a picture to prove it was there.

"By the following day, someone had ticked a box and the postcode is there now."

The chapel now has its own letterbox

The numbers watching the services at Siloh have doubled during the pandemic as people find it easier to join in from home, he added.

"That's the importance of things like Zoom - that has enabled people to be a community together without being in the same building," he said.

"So as we move on from this I hope we can, not only do things in the building, but also bring an audience from outside, those who can't come to the chapel.

"I was worried initially that it could all be impersonal, but people love waving and saying hello to each other on screen.

"Whilst in the chapel people would tend to look straight ahead and keep quiet, so there are some unexpected things that have come out of this somehow."

A BT spokesman said that they have "seen a certain increase in the number of enquiries from churches, chapels and other places of worship looking to get a broadband connection".