How’s this for something unusual and possibly collectable to commemorate our Team GB Gold Medal wins during London 2012?
When big events come our way, it’s nice to have a little momento to remember them by. I’m not one for collecting trinkets or ornaments, so the stamp initiative appeals to my sense of being appropriate, affordable and realistic.
Next day stamps are going to be issued, featuring our Gold Medallists from the Olympic Games, by the Royal Mail. They will recognise the achievements of each win at the 2012 Olympic Games that will run from the 27th July to 12th August.
Sally Gunnell, OBE launched the official announcement and revealed the design. As an Olympic gold medalist herself, who won the 1992 games in Barcelona’s 400m hurdles event, Sally is a good choice to champion the stamps.
The main image of the stamp will, wherever possible, be a photograph of the Team GB athlete or team in action from their gold medal winning final. Where this can’t be achieved, the image will be of the athlete’s gold medal winning journey taken from a heat or from their gold medal award moment on the podium
This is likely to be the only time in my life that the Olympics are going to grace these shores, so I am very likely to squirrel a copy of these stamps away with my Queens 25th Jubilee coin, and hopefully also one from the 50th.
Royal Mail’s team of picture editors and graphic designers will be on standby and ready to swing into action when Team GB strikes gold.
This will be the first time any host country has used action shots for Gold Medal stamps and issued them the next day, during the Games. This will also be a first for next day stamps from Royal Mail. Be The First in line to get your own stamps, although I suspect I will be tempted to get the Official 2012 Compendium at £20 each so that my boys can have one each.
Royal Mail will also be the first postal service of a host country to issue stamps which will celebrate the start of the Paralympic Games on 29th August.
The stamps seem to be a nice touch and give the winners families an affordable and memorable reminder of great sportmanship.
Gold Medal stamps will be on sale at 500 selected UK Post Offices by lunchtime the next day, and on the Royal Mail website after each gold medal win by Team GB. They will then be distributed three times during the Games to a further 4,500 Post Offices nationwide. As a first for Royal Mail, many of the 500 Post Offices will open on a Sunday for the first time during the games.
In 2008, at the Beijing games, Team GB won 19 gold medals, so it would be nice if we could have several stamps to remember our Olympic event.
Moya Greene, Royal Mail Chief Executive, said:
“Royal Mail is proud to be involved in this once in a lifetime event and to recognise the success of Team GB.
“Our Gold Medal stamps will be unique souvenirs of the Games, marking the great achievements of our talented athletes. They will be a special way for people across the country to celebrate Team GB’s gold medal wins and help mark their amazing achievement.
Royal Mail and the Olympics
Royal Mail has a proud history of commemorating the London Olympic Games. For the 1948 Games, Royal Mail issued stamps bearing the five Olympic Rings. Olympic stamps were not issued to mark the 1908 London Games as Royal Mail stamps could only carry images of the reigning monarch.
The Olympic Collection can be bought from Royal Mail. Register your interest now to be one of the first in line.
What a lovely idea. x
Thank you, it is quite nice, isn’t it.