Vote for your postie: Ronan Keating launches nationwide search for Britain's best loved mail deliverers

Our dogs might not like them so much, but the U.K’s postmen and women have become one of our most welcome sights during lockdown.

To celebrate our postmen and women, Ronan Keating has joined forces with notonthehighstreet, and is asking the nation to nominate its favourite postie.

Those nominated will receive the ultimate Christmas thank you package through #TheMagicOfSmallThings campaign, and follows on from Royal Mail’s Thumbs Up For Your Postie campaign earlier this year.

Those who make a nomination will also have the chance to bag one of 5,000 postie packs for free – with notonthehighstreet encouraging Brits to ‘reverse post’ the postie pack’to their postal worker through their letterbox.

Each pack contains a chocolate bar made by a small business and an ‘Ode to the Postie’ poem.

Ronan said: “It’s amazing to see how many people are planning to give a little thanks this Christmas to posties who have been vital in keeping us smiling this year.

“As we head into the festive season under lockdown, I couldn’t be happier to be helping notonthehighstreet celebrate posties who are going to be busier than ever helping to keep the nation feeling connected.”

A quarter of British people have said that their posties have brought them joy during the lockdown period, with new research commissioned by notonthehighstreet showing that the pandemic has brought us closer to the people who deliver our mail.

The research uncovered just how much we’ve come to rely on our posties, with one in ten saying it’s the highlight of their day, and over 1.5million Brits saying they rely on their posties to combat loneliness.

To nominate your favourite postie, visit www.notonthehighstreet.com/thank-your-postie.