The postal service is important all year round but especially so at Christmas time. In 1914 and during those years of carnage during World War I keeping in touch with those at the front lines and family who had left Orkney was through the Royal Mail.

In 1914 the Kirkwall Post Office reported that a large number of parcels were posted on 21st (Monday) and 22nd (Tuesday) of December.

Deliveries going south consisted of : 57 parcels and 58 parcels over those two days.

It was also busy for the Sorting Office as over that same period coming into Kirkwall there were: 44 (Tuesday), 44 (Wednesday), 51 (Thursday), 49 (Friday), 39 (Saturday) parcels.

There were also a lot of letters and cards sorted and delivered.

Parcels for the Front (1915) – First World War | BFI National Archive