Once again I have snippets of news from various sources so thank you to all who have sent me information and images. In most cases a larger view can be seen by clicking on the image.
Rugby World Cup Slogan Postmark
There has been no announcement about this, but I would be very surprised if there was no slogan
postmark for this most prestigious event. So with the stamps being issued next Friday 18 September, it is worth looking out for Royal Mail press releases and reading the small print which may well tell you that there is a postmark. If there is one I would expect it to be in use from 16th on 2nd class mail and 17th on 1st class which will be delivered on 18th.
However, with the stamps being mainly black, positioning on a first day cover will need to be considered very carefully!
Guernsey Post and Go - Envoy House
Chris has provided an image of the British Union Flag stamps and receipt from Guernsey Post's first public-access machine on the island, at Envoy House. (Click to see it larger). I think we can all be grateful that this practice has not been established in the UK by Post Office Ltd, and that Royal Mail abandoned a similar exercise for the machines in it's Enquiry Offices.
Stamps on Postboxes
Back in July Royal Mail started affixing pictorial and descriptive plaques to 50 postboxes as reported here. Everything went quiet for a while, but Bob has noticed this one at Tenby in Prembrokeshire.
Strangely the one with the Lifeboat plaque it is opposite a Victorian box, and while Bob understands that it makes sense to put it on the newer box (the Victorian one might be 'listed') he has no explanation for having two boxes in such close proximity. Collections from the Victorian one are 9am weekdays, 7am Saturdays, while the other is 5pm/12 noon!
British Forces Post Office marks Battle of Britain 75th Anniversary
To mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain RAF Northolt has commissioned BFPS
to produce the third commemorative cover in a set of three. This will be issued on the 15th
September 2015.
This splendid cover bears images by Flt Lt James Payne RAF, of a Royal Flying Corps
B.E.2 Bi-plane, a Spitfire fighter and a BAe 146 aircraft. In the background is shown the
Polish Memorial situated near RAF Northolt. This issue will include a limited edition of 200
flown covers, some of which will be signed by the Station Commander and Officer
Commanding 32 (The Royal) Squadron.
The covers can be purchased from the BFPS
online shop (www.bfps.org.uk/shop). These will cost just £6 (UK/BFPO p&p free) for the
unsigned version, £8 for the flown only and £12 for the signed versions.
Royal Mail to sell first day covers unaddressed for 3 months
"Royal Mail intends to extend the sale
period of First Day Covers from one day to 3 months, initially as a
trial with effect from the Long To Reign Over US issue in September. The
FDCs sold after issue date will of course be pre-prepared non
personalised FDCs.
"Due to the very short sales period Royal Mail has never promoted its FDCs or Cover collecting within its promotional materials or Press activity. Only ‘First’ which goes to Regular Order FDC collectors includes any reference to FDCs.
"We would like to promote the concept of Cover collecting much more widely. This development will allow us to offer finished FDCs in Post Offices and ensure they are on display in cabinets. Retailing a finished product will take FDCs more mainstream and is expected to attract souvenir and impulse buyers."
The first of these is available on the Royal Mail website. The price, as with all serviced FDCs, includes VAT. It is described as the Long To Reign Over Us Stamp Sheet Souvenir.
That's fine, but in the write-up a distinction is draw: "unlike the First Day Cover, it does not feature personalised address details". Quite what it is (a souvenir) if it is not a First Day Cover, and how they are hoping to promote FDC collecting if they describe this new product as something else, I'm not quite sure. Marketing people again, I expect.
Another new Machin definitive.
Not many left to be discovered now, although some of the booklets are difficult to find supplies of.
The 2nd class Large booklets with year code MA15 have been found, but so far only one pack of 25.
This is Norvic 2933.5 and will be added to our next Checklist which will be made available very soon. Thanks to MD for the image, even though you can't supply me with any stock!
Bristol Returned Letter Branch
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Bristol Returned Letter Branch handled letters that need returning to the
sender in the south-west. The covers below are from 1887 and 1901, with
"R.L.B...
Am I the only one to notice that the Tenby letter box plaque states the RNLA and not the RNLI! It is not an Association, but an Institution. Doh!
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