Suffolk Scouts Launch Affordable Christmas Card Delivery Service

Volunteers are once again facilitating the delivery of Christmas cheer to residents’ letterboxes at a notably low cost. This year, Suffolk Scouts is operating its Big Christmas Post service, enabling residents to send festive cards for only 35p. Dedicated collection boxes have been positioned in various shops across Ipswich, Kesgrave, Felixstowe, and their neighboring villages. These festive collection boxes will be available until December 10, after which the mail will be organized at a local sorting facility and subsequently delivered by volunteers, referred to as “Santa’s little helpers,” right up to Christmas Eve. Adele Chaplin manages the sorting centre located at Foxhall Road Scout Hall. Chaplin stated that the service is “cheap as chips” when contrasted with the £1.65 charge for sending a first-class letter through Royal Mail. She further commented, “It’s been running for ages and it has got bigger and bigger every year.” Chaplin also remarked, “We love it, it is great and it gets you all Christmassy and everyone uses it – we have little old ladies, businesses and people who have one or two cards to send locally.” She concluded, “It is fantastic, the number of people that support us every year.” After the mail has been processed at one of the 12 regional sorting centres, the cards are then forwarded to Ipswich Scout’s primary hub on Hogarth Road. From there, they are distributed among various volunteer-operated groups, who then undertake the street deliveries to guarantee the festive cards reach their destinations before Christmas Day. Participants sending cards through this initiative are instructed to write the complete address, including the postcode, on the envelope, prior to depositing them along with the 35p payment into the designated boxes. Adele added, “The team will be in here pretty much every night sorting cards and getting them all ready to post.” Charlotte Hart, a volunteer, reported that one collection box contained 1,300 cards last year. Hart commented, “There’s nothing like [opening a Christmas card] and it’s really lovely to see addresses getting a lot of cards and I think it will be great fun for them.” For more Suffolk news, follow BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram, and X. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC disclaims responsibility for the content of external websites. Information regarding its approach to external linking is available.