It's the busiest time of the year for Royal Mail staff, and a councillor saw for himself the work going on behind the scenes.

Cllr Graham Carr-Jones visit came as Royal Mail moved to remind residents that the last recommended posting dates for Christmas are today for Second Class mail, Thursday, December 20 (First Class) and Saturday, December 22 (Special Delivery).

Cllr Carr Jones, leader of North Dorset District Council visited Sturminster Newton's sorting office.

to see first-hand the operation of delivering Christmas post and to pass on early Season’s Greetings to its dedicated, hardworking staff.

Cllr Carr-Jones was shown around the office and introduced to the postmen and women, who will be pulling out all the stops to sort and deliver mail.

He said: “At no other time is the hard work and dedication of postmen and women clearer than during the festive period. There is a huge amount of effort and dedication that goes into delivering a first class Christmas all over the country.

“It was great to meet the team here at Sturminster Newton and thank them for the extraordinary lengths they will go to ensure Christmas parcels and cards are delivered to loved ones on time, as well as thanking them for delivering our mail services all through the year, in all weathers.”

Wendy Louth, Royal Mail Delivery Office Manager, said: “Our postmen and women will be working extremely hard to deliver Christmas parcels, cards, letters and parcels to people in North Dorset. We are grateful that Cllr. Carr-Jones visited the office to see our operation and to support the team.

“We’d like to remind our customers to post early this Christmas and to ensure all their mail is posted by the recommended dates, so that friends and family can enjoy their Christmas greetings and parcels. If everyone uses the postcode on every item of mail, this also helps us greatly in the job that we do at this very busy time.”