Exeter students' funeral for letter writing

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.thisisexeter.co.uk/news/Exet ... ticle.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

WHEN it comes to communication technology, university students are usually at the cutting edge.

But final year drama students at the University of Exeter are literally mourning the decline of good old-fashioned letter writing.

They claim modern forms of communication, such as email, have been a nail in the coffin for the art of putting pen to paper. So as part of a project to encourage people to continue letter writing, they held a funeral for a defunct post box in the city.

They posed as mourners and a vicar at post box EX468 on the corner of York Road and Longbrook Street, which has been painted black and nailed shut.

They handed out an order of service to passers by on their way to work, which included the words: “In loving memory and celebration for the life of Post Box EX4 68, established between 1910 and 1936, closed between 2008 and 2009. Rest In Peace.”

The funeral, held by the Rev P Pat, included the songs Please Mr Postman by The Marvelettes and Return to Sender by Elvis Presley and the reading of a poem His Letter to Us by Matthew Weigold.

Georgina Ower, 21, who filmed the service for a documentary the students are creating as one of their final projects, said the funeral attracted a lot of interest. She said: “It was performance with a purpose to it. People didn’t know we were performing — they all thought it was a nice positive thing to spend our time on.

“There were quite a few people stopping and reading our information. Quite a few people are keen to come along and see the documentary — we would like to have a screening somewhere and hopefully make an event of it for members of the public who might be interested.

“Our target audience is professionals and businesspeople, the people who use Blackberrys and emails. They have shown an interest.

“One man came along this morning and said he used to use the post box a lot on his way to work and thinks it’s really sad that it’s closed. He thought the service was a lovely idea.

“It’s quite morbid because they have painted it black.”

She said the students were not telling people not to use emails — they just wanted to remind people of the value of putting pen to paper.

The students are planning further events as part of the project. They hope to create an interactive tour of the post boxes in the city, read letters aloud on public transport and look round the sorting office in Exeter.

Georgina said: “The Royal Mail has had a lot of bad press. But it’s part of our national heritage and we wanted to remind people of the service it provides.”

She added: “It would be nice to get a bit of a following and backing from everybody in Exeter.”

As the Echo reported at the time, the post box closed in September 2008.

[Wessex]

Good on em its not all Pot Noodles ,grubby laundry and non-stop boozing as a student! Still isnt it time that they got a proper job