This is an open letter to whichever dear soul has nicked the postbox by the church in Brampton, my home village.

Dear Sir or Madam,

Since the reign of good King George, which one was it I wonder, there has been a postbox on a post by the village church. Then, sometime last weekend, you came along and nicked it. I do hope you can find a good use for it and find sleeping at night really easy.

This postbox is one of the few services our village has, now the elderly and disabled at one end of our village have to do a round trip of a mile just to post a letter. It’s very kind of you to think of  our population in this way. I’m sure they will enjoy the exercise as they struggle to walk and breathe. They wont mind getting wet and cold on their future journies to post their letters.

Then there are the hundreds of walkers that pass by every year and stop to look at this still working and useful bygone of a past age. Many take its photograph and some even eat their sandwiches by it, or at least they did. I haven’t even mentioned the cute little birds that remarkably used this as a nesting box last year but now they can’t, no doubt they will find somewhere else.

What of the letters that were in it when you took it, have you posted them on? Somehow I doubt it but if your conscience troubles you at all the very least you can do is to post them on. Is that too much to ask?

I know it’s a collectors item but it’s our villages to share and enjoy with the rest of the world and your selfish, theiving behaviour has now denied it to us.

Man (or Woman) up, return it to its rightful place and you will feel much better. If you do that now some good could come out of an otherwise disgraceful episode.

Yours

Stuart Wilson

PS If you didn’t nick it yourself but know who did please tell the Police, Post Office or myself.