Royal Mail staff in Halifax to deliver some cheer by wearing fancy dress

The idea is one of many those working at the delivery office on Gaol Lane have come up with to spread some positivity across the town during the coronavirus lockdown.

Delivery office manager Dean Cotton said: “They wanted to thank the nurses by raising some money for them, and also raise a bit of morale around the community which they serve daily.

“They’ve had a lot of public responses thanking them for the job they’re doing, kids waving when they see them around.

“And I think they just wanted to lighten the mood a little bit.

“They’re fully engaged with what they’re doing. It’s a risky job but they’re fully on board with serving the community they’re in.

“We did a sweepstake on the Grand National on Saturday, we’ve got a couple of guys that are going to do sponsored head shaves, and we’ll be doing a pyjama day as well.

“We’ve got someone coming as a priest, we’ve got someone coming as Buzz Lightyear, I think there’s a jockey and a jockey on a horse.

“There’s a group of lads going in Hi-De-Hi costumes too. It’ll certainly be entertaining.

“We’d like to thank Prop Shop, Northowram, a fancy dress supplier who have kindly offered to let any Royal mail staff member choose their outfit free of change.”

Staff plan to buy gift vouchers with the money raised and hand them out to nurses queueing up outside Marks and Spencers, opposite the delivery office, during the NHS priority hour.

“We’ve had to change quite a lot of the ways we’re working,” said Mr Cotton when asked about the impact of coronavirus.

“There’s 150 staff here, but it’s quite a cramped unit, so we’ve had to stagger our shift patterns.

“Getting personal protective equipment’s been quite difficult but we have got face masks and antibacterial gel and wipes and gloves.

“But it’s been a big change for them. They’re very sociable and they’re finding it hard to be two metres apart.

“We normally work with two in a van, so we’ve had to stop that across the country,

“Some people are getting the bus out and then meeting the van and filling their bags up from the van so they’re never working within two metres of each other.

“Some people have changed shift patterns so we can use the van twice in a day.

“But they’ve all been so flexible and so good about it.

“They aren’t allowing people to come up to them. We can’t hand someone a parcel now, so we put it on the doorstep, step back two metres and sign for the parcel for the person.

“The public support’s been brilliant, people are making them posters, giving them gifts and leaving gifts on the doorstep for them.

“The atmosphere in Halifax is quite upbeat and we’re just trying to break the monotony a bit and raise some funds and cheer some people up in the process.”

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