A lot of people have been asking if Royal Mail will be producing Gold Medal Stamps and painting pillar boxes gold to celebrate our Paralympians, when the London 2012 Paralympics Games start on the 29th of August.
We at Tamebay also couldn’t wait to hear how our Paralympians will be honoured. Now we can reveal that in a first for the Paralympic Games, all ParalympicsGB Gold Medallists will be honoured by Royal Mail with a post box painted gold in their home town.
Royal Mail will also feature every ParalympicsGB Gold Medal winner in the London 2012 Paralympic Games, to be included in a set of stamps available after the Games.
A donation of £200,000 has also been given which will be divided equally between Gold medallists.
Tim Cowen, Director of Consumer and Business Media Relations for Royal Mail Group, told Tamebay today “We’re honoured to be celebrating the achievements of ParalympicsGB. We will be doing more than any other postal administration in history to celebrate the Paralympic Games and Paralympic Athletes. For the first time ever, all Gold Medal winning Paralympic athletes will be asked to appear on Royal Mail’s Paralympics GB Gold Medal winners stamps. The special issue of 6 stamps, featuring groups of Gold Medal winning Paralympians, will be issued on the 27th of September 2012, in conjunction with the British Paralympic Association (BPA).”
On the 29th of August, Royal Mail will also become the first host-country postal administration to issue a set of stamps to celebrate the start of the Paralympic Games.
Ahead of London 2012, Royal Mail has released three Olympic and Paralympic Special Stamp issues. These feature 9 Paralympic events, including Wheelchair Tennis, Paralympic Sailing, Boccia, and Goalball. Of the four definitive stamps issued for the Games, two are Paralympic Games stamps.
Royal Mail have an excellent relationship with the British Paralympic Association and told us that they are honoured to be supporting the ParalympicsGB campaign in conjunction with the British Paralympic Association. They along with Tamebay hope the country unites behind our Paralympic team to make this the greatest ever Paralympic Games.
Royal Mail and the BPA agreed not to produce an individual stamp for each ParalympicsGB Gold medallist because the phenomenal success of the ParalympicsGB team makes this logistically impossible. They are hoping to better their tally of 42 Gold in Beijing – which could mean upwards of 10 Gold medals on some of the most successful days. Tim Cowen commented: “It is this phenomenal success which has driven our approach to the Paralympics series, which we hope will help Royal Mail join support celebrations for what we expect to be a very successful Games for ParalympicsGB.”
16 Responses
When they are celebrating each individual winner of a gold for team GB, why are the paralympians being relegated to 6 stamps?
So much for equality!
.
Every collector BUYING A SHEET of 50 different stamp, sound justification to me….
If Team GB was to win 50 Golds in the Paralympics and there was to be a Gold Medal Winners stamp for each the Royal Mail will not lose by it. Remember the main purpose of a stamp is to be stuck on a letter and go through the post. So even if the numbers bought and put away as Souvenirs was lower for the Paralympics whatever was left would just be stuck on a letter. Its not as if there will be unsold stamps that are later scrapped.
I think that it is mean of the Royal Mail not to give the paralympics athletes exactly the same as they gave the able bodied athletes.
After all with the numbers of special stamps issued for the able bodied Olympics the Royal Mail has now had a great deal of practice. So they have got it down to a fine art. I thought that the numbers might overload the system but it appears as if it did not.
So Royal Mail reconsider and give the athletes in the Paralympics exactly the same as you gave the able bodied.
The Royal Mail should treat all paralympian’s the same as other olympian’s. Some of our Paralympian’s who hopefully are taking part – Ellie Symmons,
David Weir and there’s Dame Tani Grey-Thompson, retired but very much still in the limelight
Ruth
Sorry, but in a year with crippling postal price increases this just seems like a mickey take.
Sure, stamps, no problem. Income stream, makes sense.
But gold post boxes and giving money away? Look, you either have to post a letter or you don’t.
I can’t imagine even one person thinking, ooh no- I won’t use a courier for this big parcel, I’ll use RM instead because they painted some postboxes a stupid colour.
It’s not going to happen, therefore it’s a waste of money, and a chance to act like a nation of idiots. Much like the rest of the various ‘pics.
U-turn a-cometh…..