Boris Johnson writes personal letter of thanks to Milton Keynes mum

Lucy Murray from Newport Pagnell created the ‘Cheerful Little Letter’ project to tackle social isolation safely by matching children with the elderly as pen pals.

What began as a project with her own children has become a group of more than 2,000 people exchanging letters.

It has inspired similar initiatives elsewhere in the country and built lasting bonds between the young and old.

This week it was picked as a winner for a national daily Points of Light award

In a personal letter to Lucy, Boris Johnson said:

“I was so heartened to hear of your wonderful initiative supporting children to become pen pals with the elderly and vulnerable.

“The thousands of letters you have inspired will have brought precious moments of comfort and happiness to many who are being shielded at this time, while forging lasting bonds between young and old across our society.”

Lucy said: "It is a huge honour to receive this award and I would love to dedicate it to the wonderful children and their families who have made this happen and put so much love and care into their letters."

She added: "I would also like to say a huge thank you to the amazing care workers who have made the project possible by supporting their residents to receive their post and taking time from their busy schedules to help them reply.

"This project has been such a positive and uplifting experience for so many people on both sides of the story and I really hope it continues long after the care homes reopen their doors to visitors.”

Lucy runs Olive and Pip, a business that makes gifts from children's artworks, She set up a Facebook group called The Cheerful Little Letter Project at the beginning of lockdown and within days it rocketed to have more than 1,400 members.

She started out intending just to send letters to her local care home in Newport Pagnell, but soon other homes contacted her asking if their residents can be included.

She now has hundreds of elderly residents in dozens of different care homes matched with children and families. Children from all over MK have posted off hundreds of letters and drawings - all guaranteed to make the elderly recipients smile with delight.

Lucy even spoke to Public Heath England about the possibility of spreading germs through letter writing.

"They have told me it is safe to send post and there are no concerns with this project. However, please continue to follow government guidance as it comes out and practise good hand washing before writing letters just to be safe," she said.