The March slogan programme can properly be said to have started on 29 February because that was the only date of use for the St David's Day slogan, to be delivered on 1 March, but applied to both 1st and 2nd class mail.
We have no intimation that it was translated into Welsh for delivery to Welsh addresses, although that would have been logical!
St David's
Day
Friday 1st March
Thanks to JE for one example for each layout shown here, from Preston (Lancashire and South Lakes) and Edinburgh Mail Centres.
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| St David's Day slogan Edinburgh Mail Centre 29-02-2024 unnecessarily on PPI mail |
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| St David's Day slogan Lancashire and South Lakes (Preston Mail Centre) 29/02/2024 |
Thanks also to RS for this one from Medway showing use of one of January's Spice Girls stamps.
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| St David's Day slogan Medway Mail Centre 29-02-2024 |
We understand that there will be a similar slogan for St Patrick's Day delivered on 16 March (to be used on 15 March only) the day itself being a Sunday. St George's and St Andrew's days will probably follow later in the year.
From 1st March we would expect the temporary British Heart Foundation RevivR slogan to be used, with the next 'special' being (as mentioned in February) the International Women's Day slogan which will be used in both formats on 5 & 6 March only, with the aim of 'doormat delivery' (for 1st class letters) on 6 & 7 March, 'the day' being on 8 March.
Here's Royal Mail's publicity photograph for the #IWD slogan - the Mail Centre date of 8 March is wrong:
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| International Women's Day slogan paste-up. |
International Women's Day
8 March 2024
#IWD2024
#InspireInclusion
Here's the first one I've been sent, by RL, notable for three reasons. 1 - it is very clear; 2 - it was used the day before the dates I was given; 3 - the stamp is no longer valid but wasn't surcharged. Used at Cumbria Dumfries & Galloway on 05/03/2024. It will also be added to my Postal History blog.
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| International Women's Day slogan Cumbria Dumfries & Gallowy 05/03/2024 |
From 8 March the 'original' default British Heart Foundation slogan should be used.... and here is an exaample from Plymouth and Cornwall Mail Centre on 09/03/2024
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| Original British Heart Foundation slogan re-used Plymouth and Cornwall 09/03/2024 |
As we were advised, a slogan was used for St Patrick's Day on 15 March for delivery on 16th. Monday is a holiday in Ireland. Two examples, from Medway Mail Centre 15-03-2024 and Lancashire and South Lakes (Preston Mail Centre) 15/03/2024. Thanks to JE for these. Expect the BHF slogan again after this.
St Patrick's
Day
Sunday 17th March
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| St Patrick's Day slogan Lancashire and South Lakes 15/03/2024 |
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| St Patrick's Day slogan Medway Mail Centre 15-03-2024 |
And it is appropriate that we have this one from Northern Ireland Mail Centre, Belfast: thanks to BW for this one.
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| St Patrick's Day slogan Northern Ireland Mail Centre 15/03/2024 |
UPDATE 9 April
The last slogan sent to us is the default British Heart Foundation slogan (original) applied in reverse on a square envelope. Thanks to MM for this from Tyneside NE/SR Mail Centre 25/03/2024.
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| Default British Heart Foundation slogan in reversed format from Tyneside MC 25/03/2024 |
OTHER POSTMARKS AND POSTAL MARKINGS
Here's a Revenue Protection mark that I haven't seen before. I believe it may have been applied in Carlisle mail centre as the letter travelled between Cumbria and Dorset. This is early March 2024.
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| Revenue Protection 'tick'-mark possibly applied at Carlisle Mail Centre March 2024 |
An earlier cover to the same address last year was surcharged, incorrectly. See section 3 on this blog post.
Here are two postmarks from across the Irish Sea. The stamps were cancelled with An Post's self-inking datestamp at Port an Chalaidh, known in English as Ferrybank, and part of Waterford (Port Láirge). At the Portlaoise Mails Centre their ink-jet slogan was applied. Portlaoise is about 55 miles north of Wateford in a central area. Ireland has only three Mails Centres, the other two being in Athlone and Dublin.
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| Portlaoise Mails Centre slogan 29 2 24 'Send from the ♥︎' |
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| Port an Chalaidh Port Láirge self-inking datestamp 29.2.24 |
If you have any other slogans used this month, or any other
interesting postal markings from any period or place, please send them to the email address in
the top right of this blog. Thank you.
Remember, all postmarks appearing in March will be added to this post, so check here before you spend time scanning and emailing. I'll try to add new ones as quickly as possible.
The 2nd class Northern Ireland regional postmarked INTERNATIONAL WOMENS DAY 8TH MARCH 2024 looks like a non barcoded stamp that should have not been used
ReplyDeleteIndeed; I forgot to add the link to my Postal History Blog where these things are recorded.
DeleteWateRford to Portlaoise would be more like 55 miles (as the crow flies) - rather than 30.
ReplyDeleteThank you, you're right. I don't use Googlemaps 'distance measure' very often and I usually mislead myself with the stage markers; total distance around 88km but half-way along the line, on a clear green background (rather than overlaying the text) is '50km' which I converted loosely as 30 miles.
DeleteA Welsh translation of a postmark would have been out of date as it is the third used language in Wales; after English then Polish. Also Welsh is dying out as a first language and everyone in Wales understands English
ReplyDeleteNot according to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Wales) which shows less than 1% speak Polish as a first language in 2021, compared with nearly 18% speaking Welsh.
Delete