PEOPLE grieving for loved ones lost during the coronavirus crisis now have a chance to ensure the memories of their friends and relatives live on.

A group of Inverclyde organisations - Compassionate Inverclyde, Collaborate Inverclyde, Belville Community Garden, Mind Mosaic and the Salvation Army in Port Glasgow - have joined forces to install memorial postboxes across the district.

The postboxes will take delivery of stories about people who have passed away, written by friends and relatives who didn't get the chance to pay tribute to their loved ones when they lost them.

The installation of the postboxes follows on from Collaborate Inverclyde's series of podcasts on grief and loss in these unprecedented times.

Stephen Henry of Collaborate Inverclyde - formerly known as Inverclyde Community Action Response Group - said: "The impact that Covid has had on the community means that our anxiety has grown, and grief and loss are more of an issue.

"We haven't been able to say goodbye to people properly at funerals and people haven't been able to share stories about the lives of their loved ones.

"As the number of people at funerals was restricted, people didn't get the opportunity to have a cup or tea and a chat.

"Being able to send these letters and write these stories is symbolic of the grieving process."

The boxes are currently located at Belville Community Garden, the Morrisons store in Greenock, Salvation Army in Port Glasgow, Tesco in Greenock and Port Glasgow, Sainsbury's in Inverkip and at Inverclyde Royal Hospital, with more locations in the pipeline.

Young people at the Good Shepherd Centre made the boxes from recycled materials.

Stories and letters can be written in any format and posted at one of the locations and any people who are struggling with what to write can call the team at Mind Mosaic for some help.

The Collaborate Inverclyde team hope that when gathered together, the treasured tales will be used to form a permanent record of the lives lost in Inverclyde during the coronavirus pandemic.

A total of 120 people in the area have lost their lives to the virus.

Lieutenant Ian Arthur of Port Glasgow Salvation Army said that the boxes allow people to be remembered in a different way.

He added: "We're encouraging people to tell their loved ones' stories so everyone can remember them.

"This gives people the space to tell their stories and to process their grief - knowing that the tales of their loved ones will live on."

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Picture caption left to right - Leona Donnelly from Good Shepherd Centre, Alison Bunce of Compassionate Inverclyde, Laura Reilly of Belville Community Garden, Gwyneth Wroe of Mind Mosaic and Ian Arthur of the Salvation Army in Port Glasgow.