A primary school has been inundated with postcards from seaside towns after a social media plea went viral.
Year 6 pupils at Cherry Tree Primary School had to cancel their school trip to Swanage in Dorset due to the pandemic.
It was disappointing news for the children, some of whom had never been to the seaside before.
To cheer the pupils up, assistant head teacher Emma Hill posted on social media asking residents of seaside towns to send postcards to the children telling them all about what it is like to live by the sea.
Mrs Hill says the response was "overwhelming", with the kids receiving cards from all over the UK and even as far away as Australia and Malta.
A selection of just some of the postcards that have been sent to Cherry Tree Primary School in Watford
She said: "'Why do people like to live by the sea?' is the question the children wanted to investigate this half term as they explore the geographical theme of contrasting localities.
"However, due to the current pandemic, we are unable to take our children on their residential adventure this year which has been a huge disappointment.
"Along with the rest of the incredible team at Cherry Tree, I was saddened to think that our children would not be able to answer their topic question first hand and that was when I had the idea to post a request on Facebook.
"I wrote a simple message, asking any of my lovely friends who live by the sea, if they could send the children a postcard, describing what they like most about living by the sea. The response has been overwhelming."
A gift received by the primary school
On the first day towards the beginning of May, pupils received 24 postcards but the deliveries to the school kept mounting and now the pupils have more than 600 postcards, letters, gifts and poems depicting the beauty and wonder of the British coastline.
A bag of seashells was sent from Bognor Regis, while a 70-year-old retired merchant sailor provided the children with maps and pictures from his journeys around the world.
Watford's MP Dean Russell has provided the school with thank you cards which the pupils will send to those who provided return addresses.
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