Tag: Royal Mail

National Winners Revealed In Royal Mail’s Heroes Of The Pandemic Stamp Design Competition

Chosen by HRH The Prince of Wales, the eight winning designs will feature on Royal Mail Special Stamps

 ·         The winners are:

–          Logan Pearson, Bury CofE High School

–          Isabella Grover, Creswick Primary School

–          Shachow Ali, Flint High School

–          Ishan Bains, Abbey CofE Infant School

–          Alfie Craddock, The Hereford Academy

–          Jessica Roberts, Flint High School

–          Raphael Valle Martin, Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys

–          Connie Stuart, Litcham School

·         The final designs showcase the children’s heroes from all walks of life; from bus and delivery drivers to food bank volunteers, NHS workers and vaccine scientists

·         The winning designs were chosen from 606,049 entries – securing Royal Mail a world record title for the largest postage stamp design competition

  • Over the coming weeks each winner will have a special dedicated postmark that will celebrate their achievement. The postmark will be applied to stamped mail delivered to addresses nationwide
  • All eight winning designs were approved by HM The Queen
  • The stamps will be available to pre-order from today (11 March) at www.royalmail.com/heroes and by phone on 03457 641 641.  They will be available on general sale from 23 March.

Royal Mail today revealed the winning eight designs in their Heroes of the Pandemic stamp design competition. 

The winning artists and their designs are: 

 Logan Pearson, Bury CofE High School 

 Isabella Grover, Creswick Primary School 

 Shachow Ali, Flint High School 

 Ishan Bains, Abbey C of E Infant School

 Alfie Craddock, The Hereford Academy 

 Raphael Valle Martin, Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys

 Connie Stuart, Litcham School

Last spring, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Royal Mail Chief Executive, Simon Thompson launched a special stamp design competition. School-aged children across the UK were invited to design a postage stamp featuring their own hero or heroes of the Covid pandemic.

The response was unprecedented. Having received a world record-breaking 606,049 entries, regional judges including retired teachers carefully selected 120 regional finalists. From this, a special panel of judges, including the Prime Minister and Baroness Floella Benjamin, picked 24 regional winners. The final eight winning designs were personally selected by HRH The Prince of Wales, with the finished stamps approved by Her Majesty The Queen. 

Entries from across the UK celebrated a wide range of heroes, including: NHS workers; parents; carers; cleaning staff; teachers; supermarket workers; public transport staff and delivery drivers. Also depicted on the designs were many volunteers who have helped in their local communities or raised money for charity, such as Captain Sir Tom Moore.

Simon Thompson, Royal Mail CEO, said: “As we approach the second anniversary of the first lockdown, it’s fitting that the nation’s children have taken the lead in celebrating the heroes of the pandemic. They have captured the resilience and determination of the British people in eight drawings. I think they look great!”

In addition, to mark their success, a special postmark will feature on stamped mail delivered to addresses nationwide. Each child will have their name included on their own congratulatory postmark over the coming weeks.  

This is only the fifth time in the company’s 500-year history that children have designed Christmas stamps.

The winners will receive £1000 in high-street vouchers and £1000 for their respective schools.

The stamps will be available to pre-order from today (11 March) at  www.royalmail.com/heroes and by phone on 03457 641 641.  

They will be available on general sale from 23 March.

Letters: Barcoded Stamps

Dear Editor,

Your readers will have seen that our ‘every day’ stamps are changing. We are adding unique barcodes to stamps to pave the way for innovative services for our customers and to enhance the security of the postal service.

We are encouraging customers to find and use-up any non-barcoded stamps before 31 January 2023. However, if customers are unable to use them up by then, we will exchange them for barcoded stamps completely free of charge.

Our ‘Swap Out’ scheme will open on 31 March 2022. Customers will be able to print out a form from our website, call our Customer Experience team to ask for one or pick one up from their local Delivery Office’s Customer Service Point. 

More details about our ‘Swap Out’ scheme will be announced soon, but in the meantime please be assured that all existing stamps remain valid for postage in the usual way.

Yours faithfully,

Nick Landon,

Chief Commercial Officer, Royal Mail

Letters: Heroes Stamp Design Competition

Dear Editor,

I hope parents will encourage their children to take part in Royal Mail’s stamp design competition, to honour the heroes of the pandemic. The competition is open to children, aged 4 to 14. Eight designs will be chosen to become stamps which will be on sale across the UK.

Children may choose to illustrate frontline workers in health or social care.

They may want to celebrate other key workers who have kept the country going, such as refuse collectors, cleaners, teachers, supermarket workers, public transport staff, delivery drivers or, indeed, postmen and postwomen.

Or they might highlight the volunteers who have helped in their local communities or raised money for charity, such as Captain Sir Tom Moore.

The competition is open until Friday 28 May. A special panel of judges will select the winners.

As with all Special Stamps, the final eight designs will be sent to The Queen before they can be printed and issued as stamps. The winners will be announced in the Autumn.

We cannot wait to see who children choose to honour on their stamp. The past year has been very difficult for everyone, so let’s show the heroes of the pandemic just how much we appreciate what they have done for us. 

Full details can be found at www.royalmail.com/stampcompetition   

Yours faithfully,

David Gold

Royal Mail
Director of External Affairs & Policy

Two in 3 agree: An Apprenticeship is as good as a Degree

New research launched in line with National Apprenticeship Week (8-14 February) has revealed that more than two-thirds (67 per cent) of respondents agreed* that an apprenticeship is as valuable, and provides a young person with equal future prospects, as a university degree.

This finding highlights a significant improvement in the perceptions of apprenticeships and solidifies the Government’s strategy in achieving greater parity between further education (FE) and higher education.

The research, commissioned by independent training provider, Babington, showed a significant improvement in the perceived value of apprenticeships in comparison to previous years; a 2016 report found that only 24 per cent of young people believed an apprenticeship could give them a better chance of getting a good job than going to university.

This is a positive step towards understanding the value that apprenticeships provide not only for individuals, but for employers and the economy. This is especially true in light of the current pandemic, in which FE will play a significant role in building a skilled workforce to safeguard our economic recovery and long-term growth.

However, there remains a challenge and a lack of confidence in how this translates to employment opportunities, particularly when it comes to recruitment. The research also uncovered that 43 per cent of 16-24-year-olds agree* that an employer would favour a university degree over an apprenticeship.

These findings suggest that while perceptions are improving within society, and positivity surrounding apprenticeships is growing, the Government and employers must work in tandem to develop recruitment practices which expel any bias towards university degrees. This collaboration will better empower learners to build skills through their apprenticeships and secure employment that will support long-term career development. 

David Marsh, CEO of Babington, said: “It is clear that the efforts of all of those within the further education (FE) sector are paying off and the Government’s strategy in encouraging apprenticeships is working.

“However, what we’re now seeing is a disconnect with employer recruitment which could have an impact on those individuals considering an apprenticeship and how it might affect their long-term career prospects.

“Therefore, we now need to focus on supporting a much wider cultural shift amongst employers and recruitment teams to ensure the parity of apprenticeships is considered at every level.

“After all, if we are to effectively embed an employer-centric skills system then we need to continue working on changing behaviours and practices and recognise the multitude of benefits and skills which apprentices can offer.”

Tracy Fairhurst, Head of Apprenticeships, Royal Mail said: “We value apprenticeships at all levels as a hugely beneficial tool to develop talent within our organisation.  There are a wide range of Higher and Degree Apprenticeships available to support career development and provide a true earn while you learn opportunity as an alternative to the traditional fulltime study at university. 

“There are tangible benefits for both employer and apprentice – the apprentice gets to know the business and the sector in depth and can see the visible impact of applying learning.  For the employer, there are commercial and bottom-line benefits from synoptic projects and fresh thinking.

“I would encourage any employer to think widely about options to fill a role to make sure you get the best return on your people investment and apprenticeships are often the obvious choice.  We intend to do far more about achieving a more balanced approach to accessing talent pools based on the very positive results we are seeing so far.”

Ann Bridges, L&D Manager at M&S said: “Our apprenticeship programmes are a vital part of our recruitment and talent strategy. For apprentices, they offer the perfect foundations to kickstart a career in retail; while for M&S, they serve to strengthen our skills & talent pipeline.

“Alongside partner Babington, in November we launched retail’s first level three data technician apprenticeship, which teaches M&S colleagues the fundamentals of how to manipulate and scrutinise data, and translate it into valuable insights that the business can act upon.

“Programmes such as this are a key way we’ll continue to grow our digital & data capabilities and accelerate our transformation to become a digital first retailer.”

No to shared vans, says post workers’ union

Post workers’ union CWU has criticised a “reckless” Royal Mail decision to bring back shared delivery vans, saying that the union’s first priority is to “protect postal workers’ lives”.

Speaking to around 20,000 CWU members on a Facebook session, deputy general secretary for the postal sector Terry Pullinger accused Royal Mail management of basing workplace health and safety decisions on economic worries in the build-up to Christmas, saying that the decision had “operational overtones”.

He added that the company is “going against everything they supported at the start of this pandemic,” and criticised the timing of the decision.

“In the last couple of weeks, the landscape has drastically changed. It’s getting worse, with areas of this country getting shut down. To now make the move to put two people back in the van is reckless.”

Commenting on the shared vans policy, he said the company was “asking us to put their name on it. We will not do that. Our priority is to protect postal workers’ lives. We want to keep you safe, your workplace safe and your family safe.

“Every single person should be at high alert to make sure this virus does not spread to postal workers.”

He asked union reps to share the “no to shared vans” message throughout Royal Mail workplaces.

The CWU is also calling on Royal Mail to be “honest” over whether workers sharing vans will receive full sick pay if they are forced to self-isolate.

CWU Acting Assistant Secretary Carl Maden has demanded clarity from management after Royal Mail returned to van sharing practices on Monday.

The stance, which management insists is a purely voluntary role for workers who feel comfortable sharing vehicles, was opposed by the CWU.

CWU Acting Assistant Secretary Carl Maden said: “At a time when Covid-19 cases are increasing and further lock downs are in the pipeline, the CWU did not agree with van sharing – however, Royal Mail have gone ahead with it.

“Therefore, I have asked Royal Mail to guarantee anyone who volunteers will have full sick pay.”

Carl pointed out a recent Royal Mail document sent to managers stated the provision of enhanced sick pay is “dependent on the absence not being caused by or aggravated by the employee”.

The document goes on to say: “Where, in the reasonable view of the company, there is evidence of an employee’s disregard for public health guidance which then leads to them needing to self-isolate, Royal Mail Sick Pay will not be paid.”

Furthermore, in a meeting last Friday which attended by five directors/senior managers, Carl asked them to confirm whether full sick pay would be paid to members forced to self-isolate after volunteering for van sharing roles.

He also asked them to release a communication explaining any circumstances where sick pay will not be paid.

At the time of writing, nothing has been received from Royal Mail.

Carl called on Royal Mail to publish a statement as soon as possible, so members can make informed decisions about volunteering in vans.

He said: “We want guaranteed full sick pay and assurances any absence will not count against you on an attendance review or consideration of dismissal”, and added the union also wants those guarantees applied to members working in Fleet services.

He added: “I am sure I will be accused of scaremongering. However, all Royal Mail have to do is publish a document which states clearly: ‘if you have to self-isolate due to van sharing, full sick pay will be paid and the absence will not count against you within the attendance agreement or stipulate when sick pay will not be paid.’

“This would be an honest position.”

Carl also reminded workers they are entitled to read risk assessments and safe systems of work, and managers are obliged to provide you with a copy if requested.

Humza Yousaf presents counterfeit crackdown awards to Royal Mail and Vue

Royal Mail and Vue Cinema Group have become the first businesses to be nominated and recognised by members of the Scottish Anti-Illicit Trade Group (SAITG) for their outstanding efforts in the battle against the trade of fake goods. Continue reading Humza Yousaf presents counterfeit crackdown awards to Royal Mail and Vue

Royal Mail goes back in time to uncover a more personal Valentine’s Day

 
  • Royal Mail is celebrating Valentine’s Day by reaching into the archives and revealing the intriguing history of sending love through the post
  • The historic cards, which can be viewed in an online gallery, feature striking designs of lace, fabric flowers and mechanical elements revealing a hidden message or scene
  • Visitors to the gallery can create their own Victorian puzzle purse card using our special template and step-by-step instructions, available here
  • The collection also includes ‘Vinegar Valentines’, a curious social phenomenon of sending offensive notes on Valentine’s Day.
Royal Mail is celebrating Valentine’s Day by reaching into the archives and revealing the intriguing history of sending love through the post.

Royal Mail is exploring the history of sending Valentine’s cards, while outlining how different generations of Brits have sought to make their missives more memorable over the years.

An online gallery, illustrated with beautiful examples of cards through the ages, reveals the intriguing history of Valentine’s Day cards. It also provides a step-by-step guide for site visitors to create a Victorian-style puzzle purse card, allowing them to make their own personalised tribute to a loved one.

The Victorian Puzzle Purse card

The tradition of sending Valentine’s cards first began in the late 18th Century. Many people crafted their own intricate cards that were gifts in themselves. The earliest surviving example of a handmade Valentine’s card dates from 1790, and is known as a puzzle purse or courtship envelope.

The elaborate design has to be unfolded in a particular way in order to reveal the hidden verses of poetry inside.

Puzzle Purse Valentine, c.1790. Image courtesy of The Postal Museum

Visitors to the gallery can create their own version of this unusual card with Royal Mail’s special puzzle purse template, available to download here,along with special instructions. You can also watch our playful stop-motion animation of the card being made here.

Intricate printed cards become popular

As Valentine’s cards grew in popularity, printed cards became increasingly fashionable. The example below was the first ever printed card to be published, by John Fairburn in 1797.

This delicate design includes hand-painted cupids, doves and flowers, as well as a lace effect produced by piercing the corners of the paper. However, the messages were a lot more formal and considerably less direct than today’s expressions of love. The handwritten message inside the card reads:

“As I have repeatedly requested you to come I think you must have some reason for not complying with my request, but as I have something particular to say to you I could wish you make it all agreeable to come on Sunday next without fail and in doing you will oblige your well wisher.”

First printed Valentine’s card, published in 1797 by John Fairburn. Image courtesy of York Museums Trust

Valentine’s cards soared in popularity following the introduction of the Penny Post in 1840. This allowed standard letters to be sent anywhere in the UK for just a penny, and extended the practice of sending Valentine’s correspondence beyond the upper classes to the whole of society.

With increased demand came the widespread production of highly ornate cards. Many featured mechanical parts which worked to uncover a hidden message or scene.  According to experts at The Postal Museum, some men would spend up to a month’s wages on a card, such as this example with gilt-embossed paper lace and fabric flowers.

‘Your love my happiness’ Valentine Card, c.1870. Image courtesy of The Postal Museum

A gold scrap at the bottom displays the message. The girl is printed using an early form of multicolour lithography and is surrounded by fabric and waxed flowers.

Vinegar Valentines

However, not all Valentine’s correspondence was so cordial. So-called ‘Vinegar Valentines’ were popular in the Victorian era as a means of insulting or making fun of the recipient.

These venomous cards generally came in the form of rude poems and offensive drawings. To add insult to injury, before the introduction of the Penny Post in 1840, the recipient had to pay the postage charge themselves.

A range of attributes could provide the basis for insults, including the recipient’s looks, temperament, profession or relationship. In this particular Vinegar Valentine, a man resembling a frog is about to kiss an unattractive woman. A rhyme at the bottom reads:

Madam I’ve found a Beau for you.

So perfect match’d, I’m sure he’ill do

For he like you does take delight

To make his form a very fright.

Design for a Vinegar Valentine, c.1790. Image courtesy of The Postal Museum

Many more intriguing examples of these historic cards can be found in Royal Mail’s online gallery.

Sending messages of love through the post is still an important part of Valentine’s Day today. According to the Greeting Card Association, £43.7 million worth of cards was sold in 2016.

Royal Mail Head of Public Affairs, David Gold, said: “It’s touching to see how over the years the Valentine’s card has cemented its role as the primary way of expressing our love for one another on February 14. It’s clear that the personal touch of setting pen to paper has in no way diminished its appeal on Valentine’s Day over that time.

“Royal Mail is proud of the role it has played in the evolution of Valentine’s cards, supporting both a rich history of beautiful design as well as enabling massive social change.

“The puzzle purse card is a great idea for those wishing to send something unique this February.”

Discover the puzzle purse template and instructions here.

 

Pink Floyd: Royal Mail issues special stamps to honour rock legends

Royal Mail has revealed images of a set of ten stamps that will be issued to mark 50 years since Pink Floyd turned professional and became the ‘house band’ of the London Underground movement of music and arts.
Pink-Floyd-Stamps-Full
The stamps are now available to pre-order at
and will be available to purchase from 8,000 Post Offices from 7 July 2016.
Six stamps feature iconic album covers: The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn; Atom Heart Mother;The Dark Side Of The Moon; Wish You Were Here; Animals and The Endless River.
The band is renowned for its innovative album covers, many of which have become design classics. Through working with leading graphic designers and photographers, they established a body of work that is instantly recognisable, with album cover art considered among the most iconic ever created.
Most of the band’s album covers were devised by Hipgnosis, co-founded by Aubrey Powell and Storm Thorgerson in 1968. They were at the forefront of album cover design, using experimental techniques in photography and multiple exposures, and retouching to create the startling images.
A further four stamps within a miniature sheet celebrate the live performances of the band. Arguably the most visually literate band of all time, as well as being one of the most successful, their live appearances were renowned. They were among the first groups to make extensive use of light shows and projection of films for their appearances, increasing in ambition over the decades.
The four images convey the experience of these live performances, from the appearances at the influential UFO Club, London in 1966 where they invented the ‘psychedelic’ light show; to the extremely ambitious staging for albums such as The Wall and the Division Bell tours.
Pink Floyd were formed when the founding trio of bassist Roger Waters, drummer Nick Mason and keyboardist Rick Wright were augmented by original guitarist Syd Barrett. In 1968, guitarist David Gilmour joined the band shortly before Barrett’s departure.
Few bands in the history of rock have managed to carve out a career as rich and expansive as that of Pink Floyd. From their blues-based psychedelic roots, the members of the outfit have created some of modern music’s most totemic and inspirational albums, with ground-breaking live performances to match.
STAMP-BY-STAMP 
THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN (EMI Columbia, 1967)
Pink Floyd’s psychedelic debut is named after Chapter 7 of Kenneth Grahame’s classic children’s novel, The Wind in the Willows, one of frontman Syd Barrett’s favourite books. Photographer Vic Singh shot the cover image using a prism lens given to him by George Harrison some weeks earlier.
ATOM HEART MOTHER (EMI Harvest, 1970)
Pink Floyd’s fifth album provided them with their first UK Number One. It was also the first of their LPs not to feature the band’s name on the front of the sleeve, setting the tone for subsequent albums. Hipgnosis, co-founded by Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell, designed the cover – the cow’s name is Lulubelle III.
THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON (EMI Harvest, 1973)
With sales in excess of 40 million copies worldwide, The Dark Side Of The Moon remains in the Billboard chart in America over 40 years after its release, and has been entered into the Guinness Book of Records as the longest-charting album. Created by Hipgnosis, with graphics by George Hardie of NTA, the prism device is a classic.
WISH YOU WERE HERE (EMI Harvest, 1975)
With a theme of ‘absence’, the Hipgnosis design message was summarised by Storm Thorgerson as ‘not being present in a relationship or conversation’. The concept even extended to the album being shrink-wrapped in opaque black plastic which had to be slit or removed to access the music and images.
ANIMALS (EMI Harvest, 1977)
Animals was released as punk raged. While Johnny Rotten wore a T-shirt with the slogan ‘I Hate Pink Floyd’, Nick Mason busied himself producing The Damned’s Music for Pleasure. The photograph of Battersea Power Station features the now legendary floating inflatable pig designed by Roger Waters.
THE ENDLESS RIVER (Parlophone Warner, 2014)
Ostensibly a tribute to the late Richard Wright and described as a ‘headphones’ album by David Gilmour, The Endless River beat all records for volumes of online pre-orders. For the album cover, Aubrey Powell discovered 18-year old graphic designer Ahmed Emad Eldin’s enigmatic work, which was recreated by design company Stylorouge and photographer, Simon Fowler.
PINK FLOYD LIVE
While their studio work has always been important, Pink Floyd have been defined by their live performances. Their early shows in 1966 at London’s UFO Club married the use of pioneering liquid light effects that matched the psychedelic quality of the music itself.
By 1973, the band’s stage set was further expanded to mirror the dramatic sensibilities of the music: the tension that pervades The Dark Side of the Moon was reflected by lighting director Arthur Max’s innovative work, which included a 15-foot model plane flying over the audience, crashing on stage in sync with the explosion during the track On the Run. The In The Flesh Tour (aka The Animals Tour) of 1977 continued that pattern of spectacle through the use of inflatables, including the now famous pigs, and saw Pink Floyd make US stadiums their own.
Next came the Wall, Roger Water’s ambitious theatrical concept base on alienation which saw a physical wall built between the audience and the band.
Some 14 years later, spectacular stadium shows had become the norm, with Floyd underlining their status as pioneers during The Division Bell Tour, captured to great effect on the p.u.l.s.e DVD and beating all records in terms of gate receipts.
1st Class UFO Club, 1966. The UFO Club opened on Dec. 23, 1966. Pink Floyd were booked for the opening along with Soft Machine.
 
1st Class The Dark Side of the Moon Tour, 1973.  This show included the special effect of a plane crashing into the stage at the end of the song On the Run.
 
£1.52 The Wall Tour, 1981. Gerald Scarfe and Roger Waters designed a series of animations for the Wall Tour.  These animations were projected onto a 40-foot high wall of cardboard bricks which was gradually built between the band and audience.
 
£1.52 The Division Bell Tour, 1994. Over 5.3 million tickets were sold for this tour and it grossed approx. 100 million US dollars.
pink_floyd_stamps_animals
Stamps, eh? Wonder what Syd would have said?