Monmouth's AM Nick Ramsay and MP David Davies have paid Christmas visits to Royal Mail's Monmouth Delivery Office last week to see staff at their busiest time of the year.

Mr Ramsay arrived at the delivery office before 8.30am last Monday (12th December) to see the final mail bags being sorted before the staff set off on their rounds to deliver letters and parcels locally.

Mr Ramsay said: "I was very impressed by the excellent atmosphere in the busy office.

"Although the staff are under great pressure to deliver mountains of post at this time of the year, everyone was cheerful and happy to spend some time explaining how the sorting system operates and to give me details about their delivery routine.

"I thoroughly enjoyed my look behind the scenes to see all the hard work that goes on in the early hours of the morning to make sure we all receive our Christmas parcels and post on time.

"Well done to all our local postmen – next time my post comes through the letter box I will recall my interesting visit today."

Mr Davies was shown around the office in Priory Street by manager Paul Howarth and was introduced to the postmen and women working hard to sort and deliver the area's share of the estimated total Wales postbag of more than 200 million items. He also viewed this year's Christmas stamps, which feature pictures of the Nativity.

"The delivery office was a hive of activity and it was incredible to see just how much work goes into delivering post over the busy festive period," said Mr Davies.

"Our posties do a tremendous job in delivering mail in the rural areas come rain, shine or snow and I would like to thank them for their efforts.

For the full story, see this week's Beacon. (21st December).