150th Anniversary of the Birth of Winston Churchill set & PSB - 30 November 2024.

When I saw that these stamps were on Royal Mail's shop yesterday, a day before my embargo, I was annoyed not so much that they were early again, but that I hadn't got a blog post ready.  But it seems that I have: I must have done this last week and totally forgot about it!  The benefits of the ability to schedule posts for later publication.

The 150th anniversary of the birth of one of Britain's most iconic figures, Sir Winston Churchill is marked this year. To commemorate this significant milestone, Royal Mail is proud to present a special collection of stamps and collectibles celebrating the life and legacy of the man who led the nation through its darkest hours. This exclusive set captures the essence of Churchill's remarkable journey—from his early years as a soldier and statesman to his leadership during World War II and beyond.

The set of eight special stamps commemorate the 150th anniversary of Winston Churchill’s birth, honouring one of Britain’s greatest leaders. The stamps feature carefully selected images of Churchill, capturing key moments from his extraordinary life—from his early years in the military and in journalism to his pivotal role during World War II, whilst also showing his life as painter and devoted husband. Accompanying each stamp are some of Churchill's most famous quotes, offering timeless words of wisdom that continue to inspire, creating a beautiful and touching tribute to Churchill's legacy.

The stamps in detail

Set of 8 stamps marking the 150th anniversary of the birth of Sir Winston Churchill.

Upper images

2nd Class: A young Churchill in 1899.
1st Class: Churchill with Vice Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay, 28 August 1940
£1.00: Churchill painting at Miami Beach, Florida, USA, 1946,
£2.00: Churchill at work during a train journey, June 1941.
 
Lower images
 
2nd Class: Churchill in the military uniform of a hussar, 1895.
1st Class: Churchill making ‘V for victory’ sign outside 10 Downing St, June 1943,
£1.00: Churchill & Clementine, his wife, Horse Guard’s Parade, January 1941
£2.00: Churchill in later life.

Technical details and acknowledgements

The stamps were printed by Cartor Security Printers in lithography in vertical se-tenant pairs, on gummed paper sheets of 60.  Perforations are 14½ x 14.

Image of Sir Winston Churchill reproduced courtesy of Churchill Heritage Limited and Curtis Brown, London. Quotations from the writings and speeches of Sir Winston Churchill © the Estate of Winston S. Churchill, reproduced courtesy of Curtis Brown, London. Photographs: Churchill in 1899 by Elliott & Fry, photograph by Hulton Archive/Getty Images; Churchill in the military uniform of a hussar, 1895, reproduced courtesy of Curtis Brown, London, on behalf of the Broadwater Collection; Churchill with Vice Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay, 28 August 1940 © IWM H 3508; Churchill making ‘V for victory’ sign outside 10 Downing Street, June 1943, photograph by HF Davis/Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images; Churchill painting at Miami Beach, Florida, USA, 1946, photograph by Bettmann/Getty Images; Churchill with his wife, Clementine, on Horse Guard’s Parade, London, January 1941, photograph by Popperfoto via Getty Images/Getty Images; Churchill at work during a train journey, June 1941 © IWM H 10874; Churchill in later life, photograph by Baron/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Prestige Stamp Book - £20.45

The Prestige Stamp Book offers a rich, 24-page biography of Winston Churchill, exploring his remarkable life and career, written by Allen Packwood, Director of the Churchill Archives Centre. Expertly Curated Content - Authored by a leading Churchill historian, this book delves deep into Churchill’s personal and public life, offering unique insights into his legacy as a statesman, soldier, and Nobel Prize-winning author. With stunning visuals, the book carries carefully selected imagery, the book captures Churchill’s defining moments, from his early military adventures to his leadership during the Second World War.

The Prestige Stamp Book contains all eight commemorative stamps on panes 1 & 2. Pane 4 contains four of the new King Charles III Union Flag stamps, and pane 3 contains two each of the 50p & £1 definitives with security codes M24L MPIL.

Collectors Sheet

The sheet is self-adhesive making 8 new stamps, plus two extra 1st class.  It includes 10 Churchill stamps paired with photographs of Churchill at defining moments through his life and career. The dramatic background to the sheet shows Churchill in the middle of delivering a speech. (This is a preliminary image with no values shown.)

Winston Churchill 150th anniversary Collectors Sheet.

Products available

Stamp Set, presentation pack, stamp cards, prestige stamp book, first day covers (set and definitive pane), collectors' sheet, coin covers (3), framed set.

Note: there are differing opinions as to the legacy of Churchill's long life.  Comments which venture too far on this will not be published.  You are entitled to your own views but this is not the place to go into lengthy discussions about them.

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------------------ Olive Billings 1927 - 2024 --------------------

Earlier today my dear mother passed away peacefully at her care home in Dereham at the age of 97.  

This was not unexpected but nonetheless causes us great sadness.  The photo was taken back in 2016 before my wife and I undertook our 10 week round-the-world trip. Subsequently we took her on a return trip to Majorca when she was 91 and she did a lot of walking.

She had been unable to stand since a fall in early 2022, but before that she lived an independent life at home locally after my father passed away in 2011.  

Unfortunately mum declined in the last few months.  We will all miss her terribly.  

I count the readers and contributors to this blog as friends and know that you will understand if my responses here and to emails are not as prompt as usual.

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Get ready for Christmas post delays

Ahead of the Christmas rush period for Royal Mail I thought I would post some of the predictions of postal workers - you know, the people at the coalface who actually know what is going on, rather than the suits in the boardroom and facing parliamentary committees who deny there is anything untoward.

I'm compiling this from the start of October and will publish when I think there is enough to make it interesting for readers. Most will be taken from Twitter (now known as X).

Friday 4 October

We are told we never prioritise tracked over LETTERS............ BUT due to space constraints we have to clear all packets and parcels because rolling them over causes a MAJOR health n safety issue, and H&S trumps everything else! So take all the tracked and leave the letters  [@CoahcPyrah]

Specific & explicit instruction to ensure tracked are done above all else.
"Premium product" is the phrase to watch out for now we're heading into Xmas pressure period.
It's not "ignoring letters" it's "focusing on premium products".
Newspeak. 2yrs on from strikes & worse now.    [@Angry_Postman]

But management deny telling us to prioritise tracked ‘premium products’ above all else  I suspect this Christmas will be without doubt the biggest s**t show any of us have ever seen  [@andy_cooper9]

 

 

Tues 8 October

30mins now entire office has been sat waiting for the last lorry. Who'd have thunk moving traffic* to rush hour would cause issues & network delays...

(* A couple of months back the last despatches from the mail centres to delivery offices have been put back an hour or so. This was presumably so that the Mail Centres could clear late arrivals but it no means that the lorry is caught in rush-hour traffic, delaying departure of your postie from the delivery office.)

14 November

I have a major access road closed till Xmas Eve on my round [@postmann26] - East Kent.

80 tracked, can't even fit it all in van. Ludicrous  [@Angry_Postman]

Explain why I'm to abandon letters (including several NHS ones & cards) - In order to deliver Amazon Prime packets? 

Important items such as a massive box of tissues. Sorry you don't get your hosp appointment/results but you don't matter as much as paper tissues [@Angry_Postman]

Some rounds at ours {office} haven't posted {delivered} a letter all week  [@Phil19703] - Northern Ireland

 

(No recent updates received and I forgot this would publish today.  If anybody has any other verified stories from the postal system, please send them.)

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November slogan and other interesting postmarks and postal markings

November started off with the default British Heart Foundation slogan, before it was replaced by one for Remembrance Day.

This was the first slogan we have received for some time, BHF from Cornwall Mail Centre on 01/11/2024.

British Heart Foundation slogan Cornwall Mail Centre 01/11/2024

UPDATE 12 November: my thanks to JH for sending the alternative BHF layout dated 11-11-2024.  Still no sign of Movermber.

British Heart Foundation slogan Peterborough Mail Centre 11-11-2024

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Remembrance.  My thanks to JH for this reminder of Armistice Day on Monday 11 November; used at Swindon Mail Centre on 07-11-2024.

Lest We Forget.
Armistice Day
11 November 2024

Lest We Forget Armistice Day Swindon Mail Centre 07-11-2024

UPDATE:  two readers have provided the other layout.  This is the better one from KD (thanks also to JF) from North & West Yorkshire 08/11/2024

Lest We Forget Armistice Day North & West Yorkshire Mail Centre 08/11/2024

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Other postmarks, postal markings etc.

The Lest We Forget image also shows a counter date stamp from Headington Oxfordshire.  This is unusual in having the county name and in full. So many that we have seen are almost anonymous!

The branch is now in the Co-operative supermarket, and the Headington History website has a page devoted to the post office over the centuries.

Headington (Oxfordshire) Post Office (Google maps)

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Our Canadian correspondent SS has another package posted at Littlehamtpton's Wick News post office branch - all they need to do now is cancel the stamps!  They must be misinterpreting a PO Ltd instruction.

Wick News A counter date stamp 3 OC 24, but not cancelling the stamps.

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Remember, all postmarks appearing in November will be added to this post, so check here before you spend time scanning and emailing.

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New Wales Country definitives 14 November 2024, but airmail stamps to end

As well as the 2024 Christmas stamps Royal Mail have also put on their website for pre-order two new Wales Country definitives with the profile of King Charles III.

Queen Elizabeth II Wales 2nd class definitive

As standing order customers will know from their advance notice, the Wales Definitive has been billed at a value of £2.50, leading some to think that it is erroneously an airmail stamp at the pre-October 7th rate.  But of course the sum of the 2nd class and 1st class is now £2.50, and it is these two values which are being issued on 14 November, the King's birthday.

The stamps can be seen here.

In accordance with Royal Mail’s environmental policy, all existing stock of definitive and country definitive stamps featuring the portrait of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II are being issued to exhaustion, and new Definitive stamps with the King Charles III portrait will be issued according to supply and demand.

The Welsh 1st and 2nd Class Definitive stamps will be available for the first time featuring the King’s silhouette. 

The stamp designs featuring Welsh national symbols have been retained from previous country definitive designs. The Welsh Dragon has been forged from Welsh steel, whilst the Leek has been carved from Welsh sycamore. 

Country Definitives will now be limited to 1st and 2nd Class NVIs and no longer include international values.

The 39 x 30 mm self-adhesive stamps are printed in sheets of 25 by Cartor Security Printers in lithography.

When they will be available generally in Post Office branches is anyone's guess!  Please send your reports.

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Christmas Cathedrals 2024 set and miniature sheet (etc) - 5 November 2024

Now that Royal Mail have put the 2024 Christmas stamps on their website for pre-ordering, it makes me - once again - question whether I need to post details of new issues here at all.  But they do provide us with more technical details than they put on their website, so for everybody's benefit I shall continue.

The details will appear here on the date of issue but in the meantime you can see the products here.

Royal Mail are celebrating Christmas 2024 with a set of 5 stamps paying homage to some of the most spectacular Cathedrals in the UK. Visitors entering a cathedral in the UK are likely to be struck by their size and grandeur, intrigued by the architecture and history or moved by their services, from a liturgical pageant with exquisite music to the stillness of morning prayer.

The stamps have been illustrated by British artist Judy Joel.

Set of 5 Christmas stamps issued 5 November 2024.

Christmas 2024 miniature sheet of 5 stamps.

Details

2nd Class (£0.85) - St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh

1st Class (£1.65) - Liverpool Anglican Cathedral

2nd Large Letter (£1.55) - St Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh (Church of Ireland)

1st Large Letter (£2.60) - St Deiniol’s Cathedral, Bangor / Cadeirlan Deiniol Sant ym Mangor (Church in Wales – Anglican).

£2.80 - Westminster Cathedral, London (Catholic)

Technical Details

The 39 x 30 mm stamps designed by Together Design London Ltd are printed by Cartor Security Printers in gravure.  The stamps and miniature sheet are all self-adhesive.  The miniature sheet measures 179 x 74 mm. © Royal Mail 2024. 

Generic/Collector Sheet

The sheet contains eight each 2nd and 1st class stamps, 2 x £2.80, and one each of 2nd Large and 1st Large stamps.  (The image provided shows the original draft with a value of £2.50 for the airmail stamp).  The sheet is printed in lithography which means the stamps are different, if you collect single stamps from sheets - and you'll have a lot left over because there is just ONE set of 5.  (Price £30.95).

Christmas Collector sheet issued 5 November 2024 containing just one set of stamps.

Booklets

Products

First Day Covers (2), Presentation Pack, Retail Books (2), Collector Sheet, Postcards (6).

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Royal Mail 2025 Stamp Programme - any guesses?

Before we get to the Christmas stamp issue, I thought it worth prompting our readers to make some suggestions for the 2025 programme.

You know the basics of the programme, whatever the specific subjects.  There is likely to be at least one music set ....

at least one television/film set, 

Christmas of course (a non-secular subject), and some blatant thematic sets with no commemorative worth.

Suggestions by email only please to ian@norphil.co.uk, only one per person unless I prompt you for clarification or expansion.

Results and comparison with the actual programme in due course.  The exercise ends when the programme is announced - please don't leak it if you see the calendar in a post office, it won't be published here.

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Late arrival in the Machin collection.

It's 18 months since the King Charles definitives were issued, but as we know Royal Mail printers produced an enormous number of 2nd and 1st class Machin definitives such that they are still being sold now, and are certainly still being provided in the SwapOut scheme.  

But there is still room for discoveries and I am indebted to CB for sending this picture of a massive shift of the iridescent layer on a 1st class booklet stamp.  So large is the shift that it is impossible to establish whether this is from a book of 8 MEIL or book of four, MFIL.

UPDATE: Thanks to HJF & DG I can confirm that this is a MFIL/M22L stamp with barcode date 14.03.22 based on interpretation of the barcode.

1st class Machin booklet stamp with 2mm left shift and slight downward shift of the iridescent printing.

The email reminded me that I had been given an identical stamp (on cover) by a relative.  Unfortunately neither example is postmarked so we don't know where the stamps were used.  

Second example of a 1st class Machin booklet stamp with 2mm left shift and slight downward shift of the iridescent printing.

If you do get stamped mail - and Christmas is coming - it's still worth looking for oddities like this.  Whilst not valuable it is interesting, especially if you can include a photograph in your collection which shows the error more clearly.

I don't recall seeing anything as prominent as this on the barcoded stamps before.

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More new King Charles definitive booklets, and sheet printings.

We reported 2024 reprints of the Counter Sheet definitive stamps in February when the 1st and 2nd class sheets were found in Post Offices.  Other sheet printings have been announced by Royal Mail, and booklets have been found locally.

The 1st class was reprinted on 170/1/2024 and the 2nd class on 18/01/24.  Not previously mentioned here were reprints of the 1st class Large on 01/03/24 and the 2nd class Large on 04/03/2024.  There were further reprints of the 1st class on 12/03/2024 and the 2nd class on 13/03/24.

The 2nd class booklet of 8 stamps was reported in May of this year and we have just received the 1st class M24L booklet of 8, both with source code MEIL.

2nd class King Charles III definitive booklet reprint 2024 - MEIL M24L

2nd class King Charles III definitive booklet reprint 2024 single - MEIL M24L

1st class King Charles III definitive booklet single 2024 reprint - MEIL M24L

1st class King Charles III definitive booklet single 2024 reprint showing cylinder number C1.

Country Definitives

Several collectors have reported (mainly in the new tariff post) that Royal Mail Philatelic will be charging them for new Welsh Country Definitives on 14 November.  Of course I know about these but because of Royal Mail's stupid embargo system, I am not supposed to be writing about them or showing the images until the end of this month.

Well, imagine the current 2nd and 1st class Wales stamps with the head of King Charles instead of Queen Elizabeth.  There, that's not difficult.   

There will be no airmail rate stamp.  The new pair of stamps have a value of £2.50 - unfortunately the cost to send an airmail letter will be £2.80.

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NBIT for the Axe? After spending £millions, Post Office Ltd may outsource latest in-house project.

The much-criticised Capture computer system was developed in-house by Post Office. The Horizon system was developed by ICL/Fujitsu.  The New Branch Information Technology system was being developed in-house, and is running way over budget - and is unlikely to be available for several years, during which Post Office Ltd will have to continue to use Fujitsu to maintain Horizon.

According to Computer Weekly:

As things stand, the Post Office contract with IT supplier Fujitsu to support Horizon ends in March 2025, and if that’s not extended, the consequences could be catastrophic for the branch network. Even Fujitsu is cautious about continuing, and has said it will only do so if convinced the Post Office has a viable replacement plan in place.

The Post Office has asked for a five-year extension, with a three-year break point. The full five years could see up to £180m of additional taxpayer money go to the IT supplier.

According to witnesses at the public inquiry into the Post Office scandal, the two companies have yet to agree a new contract, with less than six months to go.

Former Post Office chief transformation officer Chris Brocklesby told the inquiry that, if everything went according to plan, the earliest the Horizon replacement – dubbed New Branch IT (NBIT) – would begin roll-out is June 2026, with Horizon finally switched off at the end of 2028.

But according to another CW report today 

The “writing is on the wall” for the Post Office’s plan to build its New Branch IT (NBIT) system in-house, as it considers dumping it in favour of an off-the-shelf electronic point of sale (EPOS) alternative.

A source said the Post Office looks set to U-turn on its current plan to replace the controversial Horizon IT system with in-house developed software and either switch to an off-the-shelf system from a supplier or bring Horizon in-house.

The source, who wished to remain anonymous, said the Post Office is considering a contract with EPOS platform provider Escher, the supplier of the Riposte middleware that was previously used in early versions of the Horizon system. There is also support within the Post Office IT department for bringing the existing and controversial Horizon system in-house. The source said a decision has not been made yet, but it appears “the writing is on the wall” for the in-house NBIT software, which is expected to be dumped.

This follows an admission by recently installed Post Office chairman Nigel Railton, during his appearance at the Post Office scandal public inquiry this week, that the company’s decision to build the new system in-house was one of two reasons the project was “set up to fail”.

Railton told the inquiry: “One was the decision ‘to get off Horizon’, which is different to building a system for the future, and the second was the decision to build in-house.” He said there are many “horror stories” of people trying to build systems in-house, adding: “I think, based on my experience, that this was always set up to fail in the first place.”

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A recent internal Post Office document sent to staff by acting CEO Neil Brocklehurst revealed that changes to the NBIT programme are being considered. “While the strategic review is ongoing, and informed by other discussions with the board and stakeholders, we have taken the opportunity to review our current approach to our delivery of new technology, to make sure it will deliver what postmasters need in the most effective way possible,” it said.

“This means from next week we will start reassessing and reprioritising the NBIT programme. This does not mean we will be stopping everything. Critical investment in Horizon’s infrastructure will continue and, importantly, we will be moving forward with the installation of new technology into branches over the next 12 months,” the document said.

According to the source, the NBIT team has been told to hold off building any more features until a decision is made on whether to continue with the current in-house project.

Watch this space or follow Computer Weekly.

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