Royal Mail’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations for Her Majesty the Queen are launched by the first of three special Royal stamp issues on 2 February, 2012.

The House of Windsor Stamps feature the five monarchs from the start of the 20^th century. The Queen takes pride of place on the final stamp of Royal Mail’s epic ‘Kings and Queens’ series, marking the 60^th year of her reign, the second longest for a British monarch after Queen Victoria.

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published February 5th, 2012

Royal Mail’s 2012 Special Stamp programme is set to celebrate a very special year in the UK’s heritage, with both the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and Her Majesty the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee being celebrated in stamps issued throughout the year.

The first of several stamp issues celebrating the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will go on sale on 5^th January.  These definitive stamps, which are the nation’s everyday stamps, will be available from all Post Office branches and thousands of retailers.  These stamps are set to be used to post millions of letters and cards, sharing the London 2012 celebration across the UK and overseas. Other stamps be issued throughout the year to celebrate the Olympic and Paralympic Games, include for the first time ever Gold Medal stamps to mark Team GB Olympic victories.  (read more)

published January 4th, 2012

Royal Mail is extending the opening hours of almost 1,400 delivery offices until Christmas to make it even easier for people to collect online orders that could not be delivered because no one was at home.

The move was announced on Royal Mail’s busiest day during the festive period. Royal Mail expects to handle around 130 million today – more than double the normal daily mailbag of 59 million items. In total, Royal Mail expects to handle a festive mailbag of around two billion items.

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published December 16th, 2011

Libya has been recently on the news for all the wrong (or maybe right) reasons but we hardly see Libya as a stamp issuing authority despite next year being the centenary of its first stamp issued in 1912. Below is some information and of course some of the famous Gaddafi’s stamps which we are sure many collectors would like to have as part of their collection, even if just for curiosity!

Beginning….

Italian colony

The area now comprising Libya was originally a vilayet of the Ottoman Empire which was ceded to Italy in 1912] and became an Italian colony. Stamps of Italy were issued from 1912 overprinted Libya and later Italian colonial issues were issued specifically for Libya. All stamps of colonial Libya were printed at the Italian Government Printing Works

From 1924 to 1934 Tripolitania and Cyrenaica had their own stamps (read more)

published November 2nd, 2011

Temporary positions across a variety of shifts will be available between mid November and early January 2012. The peak of the additional temporary work will be in December. The seasonal positions will support Royal Mail’s permanent 130,000 postmen and women who sort and deliver the mail all year round, including Christmas which is the busiest time of the year for the postal service.

Helping to sort the post
Around 18,000 people are needed to work in mail and distribution centres across the UK. The recruits will help to sort Christmas cards and packets before they go to around 1,400 delivery offices for postmen and women to take out on their rounds.

(read more)

published October 14th, 2011

This year’s Royal Mail Christmas stamps, issued on 8 November, feature scenes inspired by the Nativity.  The Madonna and Child appear on the 1^st Class stamp and Joseph being visited by the Angel on the 2^nd Class stamp.

The stamps are set to be appear on millions of cards and letters sharing Christmas greetings between friends and family in the UK and overseas. In fact Royal Mail’s festive mailbag is expected to be bulging with around two billion items. On its busiest days, around 130 million items will enter Royal Mail’s delivery network – more than double the average daily number.  (read more)

published October 9th, 2011

As we approach the 300 days to go milestone to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Royal Mail has announced that millions of definitive stamps for use next year are rolling off the printing presses. 

The stamps will be available from all 11,800 Post Office branches across the UK from Thursday 5^th January 2012.  There are four new stamps – two 1^st Class and two for Worldwide use to post items up to 20 gm in weight. Both sets of values feature one stamp with the London 2012 Olympic Games logo and one with London 2012 Paralympic Games logo.  (read more)

published October 2nd, 2011

Royal Mail’s centuries-sweeping Kings and Queens series, charting all the Royal Houses, reaches the House of Hanover, with a new set of Special Stamps.

Issued on 15^th September, this is the fifth, and penultimate, issue celebrating Kings and Queens across more than 600 years of British history. The set features ten stamps highlighting this remarkable dynasty, which ruled for almost 200 years.

From 1714 through to 1901 there were only six Hanoverian monarchs.  It was this stability, coupled with the huge impact of the Industrial Revolution, which helped Britain to acquire much of its overseas empire during this period.

(read more)

published August 7th, 2011

With one year to go to London 2012, Royal Mail has announced that it will issue special gold medal stamps to celebrate Team GB Olympic gold medal wins.

This is the first time that Royal Mail has issued stamps to mark Olympic victories.   The stamps will feature both individual and team gold medal wins. 

Details of the actual designs themselves are set to be announced later, when Royal Mail will also announce its plans to commemorate the Paralympic Games.

  (read more)

published July 31st, 2011

Royal Mail highlights the diverse birdlife to be found around the UK’s coastline for the fourth and final issue of its Birds of Britain Post & Go pictorial stamps.

Issued on 16 September, this issue of Birds of Britain features six birds active around the UK coastline, from the diminutive puffin and ringed plover, to larger seabirds like the gannet and cormorant.

Philip Parker, Royal Mail Stamps spokesperson, said: “This is the final set of the Birds of Britain designs which are proving to be hugely popular with customers at home and overseas.

(read more)

published July 26th, 2011

Royal Mail have unveiled their third and final set of Olympic stamps ahead of their release on Tuesday 27 July to mark exactly one year to go until the Olympic opening ceremony.

The ‘Get Ready For 2012′ set includes 10 colourful postage stamp images of fencing, handball, wrestling, sailing, high-jump, wheelchair tennis, gymnastics, volleyball, triathlon and wheelchair rugby. It takes the Olympic stamp set to 30 – designed by 30 different artists – reflecting the fact it’s the 30th Olympiad.

London 2012 open weekend begins today with artistic, active (read more)

published July 22nd, 2011