Plaque marks the spot as remains permanently gold

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Plaque marks the spot as Team Gold post box remains permanently gold

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Royal Mail post box painted gold last summer to mark Team GB’s and ParalympicsGB’s success at the London 2012 Games has been given a plaque to commemorate their wonderful achievement

The plaque was officially unveiled by Jo Swinson, Minister for Postal Affairs

The unveiling of the plaque marks the start of Royal Mail’s programme, previously announced, to install permanent gold post boxes, each featuring a plaque which names the athlete or team and marks their gold medal achievement, or mark the location's connection with London 2012

The post boxes have now become cherished local landmarks, with many members of the public visiting them and circulating pictures of them on social media channels

110 post boxes were painted gold across the UK. It is believed to be the first time in its history that Royal Mail has permanently changed the colour of some of its iconic boxes to celebrate an historic achievement

A map of the gold post boxes can be seen at http://www.goldpostboxes.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


A Royal Mail post box painted gold last summer to mark Team GB and ParalympicsGB’s success at the London 2012 Games has given a plaque to commemorate their wonderful achievement.

The post box near Westminster Abbey was painted gold last summer to demonstrate how the boxes will change from red to gold. The idea proved so popular that Royal Mail announced in the autumn that all its gold boxes would stay that way permanently.

The plaque was officially unveiled by Jo Swinson, Minister for Postal Affairs.

The unveiling marks the start of Royal Mail’s campaign to install permanent gold post boxes, all featuring plaques and many of which will be brand new.
Anton Harding, Delivery Director said: “This post box has become a cherished local landmark and it’s fantastic it’s now permanently gold. We hope local residents for years to come will enjoy using this unique and very special post box, which will become a great reminder of London 2012.“

Jo Swinson, Minister for Postal Affairs said: ‘Making the gold post boxes permanent is a great way to mark the fantastic events of London 2012 and a part of the legacy of the Games. The other post boxes up and down the country are a fantastic reminder and a fitting tribute to our athletes who did Great Britain proud last summer.’

The post box was one of 110 across the country painted gold by Royal Mail last year to mark the successes of Team GB and ParalympicsGB at London 2012. All the post boxes will remain permanently gold and feature a plaque which names the athlete and marks their gold medal achievement, or marks the location's connection with London 2012.

The post boxes have now become cherished local landmarks, with many members of the public visiting them and circulating pictures of them on social media channels.

The location of the boxes can be seen at http://www.goldpostboxes.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; along with many pictures uploaded by visitors.

Painting the iconic post boxes gold was a part of Royal Mail’s plans to honour the victories of Team GB and ParalympicsGB, along with the gold medal stamps programme. Royal Mail was the first postal administration to produce stamps for every gold medallist in both Games.

The decision to keep the post boxes gold marks the first time in Royal Mail’s history that it has painted its iconic post boxes a different colour permanently to mark an historic achievement.

Contact:
Lloyd Evans
External Relations Manager
020 7250 2468
lloyd.evans@royalmail.com

Notes to Editors

Royal Mail’s post boxes are a much-loved part of the UK landscape. Royal Mail puts a great deal of effort into maintaining and painting its 115,000 post boxes nationwide.

Anthony Trollope, the famous nineteenth century author and former Chief Secretary to the Postmaster General, is credited with introducing pillar boxes to the UK, having seen them in France and Belgium.

The first pillar boxes in the British Isles were erected in Jersey in 1852 as a trial. This was in response to public demand for improved posting facilities, due to an increase in mail following postal reform in 1840. The trial was considered a success and boxes began appearing across mainland Britain from 1853.

Many of the UK’s first post boxes were painted green, to blend in with the landscape. However, to make them more visible to the public, bright red was chosen instead. The new colour was introduced in 1874 and it took 10 years to repaint all post boxes. Red has remained the standard colour for UK boxes from then on with only a few exceptions, one being blue post boxes for overseas mail, which were used in the 1930s. The bases of some post boxes were also changed in the Second World War to help them standout in the blackout, changing from black to white.

Royal Mail issued its first Olympic Games stamps in 1948, with four stamps bearing the five Olympic Rings. No stamps were issued in 1908 as Royal Mail stamps at that time bore images of the reigning monarch only.

Australia Post was the first postal service to issue gold medal stamps to mark home team Olympic victories in 2000, with Hellenic Post in Greece following suit in 2004.

At the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, China Post issued a stamp product to mark each Chinese gold medal win. This was a sheet of stamps with labels attached, and an image of the winning athlete was printed on the labels. This was repeated for all gold medal wins.

More recently, Canada Post issued a stamp featuring an image of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games gold medal. This was issued to mark the first time a Canadian had won an Olympic gold medal on home territory.