North Norfolk posties finish their ‘fancy’ fundraising

What do Batman, bananas and pirates all have in common?

They have all helped raised almost £9,000 for charity.

The “posties of Fakenham” started their fundraising campaign back in May. They have been wearing fancy dress while out delivering post across Norfolk, all in support of Norwich charity Littlelifts, which supports women with breast cancer.

The charity provides gift boxes to women undergoing chemotherapy treatment and was chosen by the wife of one of the Royal Mail Fakenham colleagues, who herself completes her course of chemotherapy on July 8.

The group of posties will cease their dressing up at the end of the same week, on Saturday July 11 – underlining their support for their “postie family”.

The group has delivered post to people in Fakenham, Walsingham, Wells, Briston and Holt over the seven weeks.

28 different posties have at some stage taken part in the fundraising, raising more than £8750.

A spokesman for the posties said: “Wearing a costume on delivery isn’t always ideal, but so many have coped so admirably with the idea.

“A soggy costume isn’t the most comfortable, neither is a full Santa or Reindeer costume on one of the hottest days of the year. But we’ve had people do it, which is amazing.”

The majority of costumes have been loaned from Arnie’s Attic in Dereham. The shop gave the posties a weekly costume change to keep things fresh.

The costumes surprised people to start with. The spokesman said: “Initially we had so many people at home wondering why we were doing what we were.

“So many had looked out for us in the mornings, tapping on their windows and then giving us such lovely smiles – they clearly appreciated our efforts”.

The joy it spread can be seen with eight-year-old Imogen, from Stibbard, the daughter of one of the customers on the route for postie Di.

Imogen would watch Facebook closely to see what Di would be wearing so she could match her when she delivered the post.

Di is now on holiday but has carried on dressing up when walking her dogs, and Imogen is still matching with her, even though the pair are not seeing each other.