THEY are hoping it will turn out to be a red letter day in the history of the charity.

Members of a community association in an upmarket Hampshire town are launching a rival postal service as the Christmas rush gets under way.

The venture looks set to receive the stamp of approval from people in the community.

Instead of using the Royal Mail, Lymington residents are being invited to take their Christmas cards to the community centre, deposit them in homemade post boxes and make a 35p donation for each item.

On December 14 volunteers will deliver the cards to homes within a three-mile radius of the building.

The scheme aims to raise hundreds of pounds for the association by providing residents with a cheaper alternative to buying first or second class stamps. The community centre is used by about 4,500 people a week.

Manager Danny Taylor said: “They include a lot of elderly people who are doubtless keen to save every penny they can.

“Our new postal service enables them to get cards to friends and relatives living fairly locally and support the community association in the process.

“There’s no cost to the centre, which will hopefully gain a few hundred pounds.”

People have already started to deposit cards in the boxes – and the number is expected to rise sharply as countdown to Christmas starts in earnest.

The association is currently extending the service it provides to the community. Earlier this year the cinema was given a £80,000 facelift and transformed into a performing arts centre called The Malt.

The scheme is part of a five-year, £1.5million project to refurbish the entire centre, parts of which date from the 1740s.

As reported in the Daily Echo, the £1.5 million project is due to be completed by the year 2020 and has been christened 20:20 Vision.

A corridor linking The Malt with the entrance to the centre will be converted into an open plan art and exhibition area.

The cafe will be replaced by a restaurant with a landscaped courtyard and the Phoenix Room will be used to provide a new home for a pre-school based at the centre.