May Slogan Postmarks and other interesting postal markings.

Last month we only had St George's Day, and the BHF default.  This month we continue with another example received here, but we're nearly half way through the month with nothing new on the horizon.  

British Heart Foundation Cornwall Mail Centre 08/05/2024

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UPDATE 14 May - I am pleased to welcome a new reporter (GO) with the first new slogan for May, which is for Mental Health Awareness Week.  This first example is from Peterborough Mail Centre 10-05-2024

Mental Health
Awareness Week
#MomentsForMovement
13-19 May

Mental Health Awareness Week slogan Peterborough Mail Centre 10-05-2024

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OTHER POSTMARKS AND POSTAL MARKINGS

I recently acquired a job lot of covers which revealed some postmarks that I had not shown here when they were actually used, so I am adding them in their rightful place and will mention them here as well.

But I'll start with an example which still occasionally draws queries on stamp forums - because it is so unsual and unique (in the sense that it was heavily used in Manchester but examples from elsewhere are scarce).

This is a 2019 example from the 'Large Flat machine in use at Manchester Mail Centre, primarily used for magazines and A4-size mail but on this occasion it's on a 19 cm square greetings card envelope.

Manchester 'Large Flat' postmark with Postcode slogan 11.12.19

There was also an unusually good copy of a Universal usage in 2021 from North & West Yorkshire. This has been added to the Christmas 2021 slogans post.

FInally, Aldwych is back on again! It seems that the trials of Post Office Ltd's New Branch IT in house developed replacement for Horizon (as part of its Strategic Platform Modernisation Programme) and I received this 2nd class Signed For label.   It's on a c6 envelope - and it really is big!

2nd class Signed For label from Aldwych PO (London)'s New Branch IT replacement for Horizon, 9 May 2024

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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 May will be added to this post, so check here before you spend time scanning and emailing. 

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January postmark news.

This post will record any new slogan postmarks used during January, and any other postmarks of interest that I find or that any readers send.

At the time of writing (14 January) there have been no new slogans but the default slogan for Royal Mail's corporate charity for the past few years.  Of course with most young people now required to do home learning with limited IT or internet resources, there has been much written about the effects on the mental health of young people.

So we start with one from Croydon Mail Centre dated 07-01-2021

Royal Mail

supporting youth

mental health with

ACTION FOR CHILDREN

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Update: my thanks to RW for the latest Covid-related slogan from Gatwick Mail Centre 14/01/2021.  This is a variation on the one used last April.

Stay home.
Protect the NHS.
Save lives.

Update 27 Jan.  Thanks to KD for what he admits is a poor example said to be from Nottingham Mail Centre, but it may be Manchester 22/01/2021 (Confirmed now, as it was posted in Buxton).

We have the other layout from Norwich Mail Centre, but not a very clear one!  (20-01-2021)

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UPDATE 24 February.  My thanks to MD for sending this one that wasn't reported at the time. IN previous years we have had nationwide use of the Burns night slogan and not only on mail to Scotland. Anyway, here is the 2021 version from Glasgow Mail Centre 22-01-2021.

Fair fa' your honest,

sonsie face, Great Chieftain

o' the Puddin-race!

Burns Night 

25 January 2021

Burns Night slogan postmark 2021 from Glasgow Mail Centre

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Update 26 Jan. A mixture of our own and provided examples of the latest new slogan for Holocaust Memorial Day, tomorrow.  Firstly one from Greenford/Windsor Mail Centre 25/01/2021,

LIGHT THE DARKNESS
Holocaust Memorial
Day
27 January 2021
Visit www.hmd.org.uk

A reversed one from Plymouth and Cornwall 23/01/2021

And the other layout from Peterborough Mail Centre 23-01-2021 in four lines.

and a better one from Norwich Mail Centre apparently dated 20-01-2021 on 2nd class the same day as the Manchester 'Stay at Home' example above on 1st class.

Light the Darkness Holocaust Memorial Day slogan from Norwich Mail Centre.

UPDATE 1 February

The last slogan for January, which will almost certainly run over into February, is for National Storytelling week.  This is a promotion by the Society for Storytelling (bet you didn't know there was one!)

National Storytelling week
Tell Your Story
30th Jan - 6th Feb
www.sfs.org.uk

The clearest example is from Exeter Mail Centre, with another from Edinburgh (thanks to RW & SL).  I've had others from various contributors, but no clear ones, and none yet from the other type of machine.

"Supporting & promoting Storytelling in the UK

Oral storytelling is one of the most ancient artforms, and continues to this day as a vibrant part of culture throughout the world.

We provide a central place to find out about storytelling events, to ask for advice on using storytelling, about Workshops to help you find your individual voice as a new storyteller."

This will be repeated into the February post, with others if supplied.  

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UNIVERSAL UPDATE 22 January

My thanks to JG for providing this quite late Universal usage from Cornwall Mail Centre on 19 January 2021.  Normally used at Christmas, it may now being used to allow postal workers to be distanced from each other.

Universal machine postmark with wavy lines, used 19 January 2021.

UPDATE 31 January

Our customer in Shetland has written and provided an example of the Lerwick Universal - clearly the date block stands proud of the rest of the due, so nothing here to indicate where it is from!  A nice misplaced 2nd class Post and Go printing as well, on MA14 stock from Inverness branch.

Lerwick Universal machine postmark with wavy lines.

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Publicity for new stamp issues

As we are all only too aware, publicity by Royal Mail for new stamp issues is very limited these days. Yes, they sometimes make a big splash in the press - the National Parks issue was well-received in 10 regional newspapers and some nationals - but generally unless there is some problem, the press is quiet, and new stamps rarely get a mention on broadcast media in any programme.

In the course of looking through my boxes this week I found that it wasn't always so.  I had forgotten that not so long ago Royal Mail advertised new stamp issues with postmark slogans.  Here are three from 2007/08:

The impression on these old machines is not very good - they could certainly do better now even if some results suggest otherwise.  But these advertise the 5 June 40th Anniversary of the 'Queen's head' stamp (Sheffield 05.06.07), the 15 April Insects illustrated with a butterfly (Sheffield 22/04/08) and the 17 July Air Display stamps (Sheffield 10/07/08). 

There have been other relevant slogans since then, but they don't all mention the related stamps. The last one I can recall without a lot of research was for the British Bees in 2015.  Slogans for the 1d Black and Battle of Britain in the same year did not mention the stamps, instead just marking the anniversary although they were in use on the day the stamps were issued.

As with all marketing there is no way of knowing how successful such a slogan would be in attracting buyers, but as the production of the slogans is a relatively cheap process (no metal die to be made) one wonders why Royal Mail don't use this method of publicity more often.

UPDATE 22 January
JG reminds me that there have been some more recent stamp publicty slogans, such as this one used at Swindon on 25-02-2015 for the Inventive Britain DNA stamp, appropriately used here on the DNA stamp.

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This will be the space for all new postmark slogans in January and any other postmark news.  Please send your examples for inclusion.

The February slogans will be posted shortly.

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December Slogans - and other - Postmarks

The first slogan postmark used in December is the carry-over from November, with Royal Mail's 'Shop Early, Send Early' exhortation, to take the pressure off the postal workers in this most difficult of years.

 Shop Early,
Send Early this
Christmas
send.royalmail.com

 

Shop Early, Send Early this Christmas slogan postmarks.

The Gatwick Mail Centre example dated 01/12/2020 was actually received by us this afternoon. My thanks to RW for the Croydon Mail Centre 27-11-2020 example first posted in the November post.  

For some reason South East Anglia failed to recognise this one properly and applied a non-slogan postmark on 5 December - and not a clear one.

Edinburgh Mail Centre 14-12-2020 used both three-line and four-line version of the slogan on similar items:

Reversed layout from Bristol Mail Centre 12/12/2020

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UPDATE 7 December.  Royal Mail's social media team have advertised a new slogan to be running 'all this week'.  

We are supporting the Department of Culture Media & Sport "Let's Talk Loneliness" campaign with a special Let's Talk Loneliness postmark. Look out for it on all stamped mail this week

We can all
help each
other stay
connected
#LetsTalkLoneliness

Let's Talk Loneliness slogan - template.

My thanks to MC who was quick off the mark with the latest slogan, sending a scan of Sheffield Mail Centre 05/12/2020 and Exeter Mail Centre 04-12-2020

Let's Talk Loneliness slogans from Sheffield and Exeter Mail Centres.

UPDATE 11 December.  My thanks to AH for this 'reversed' version on a square envelope. This from Tyneside NE/SR Mail Centre 08/12/2020

Let's Talk Loneliness slogan postmarked reversed on square envelope from Tyneside Mail Centre.

In a single picture one reader sent four examples, two different sizes of the first layout (Croydon and Peterborough), and both normal and reversed layout from Lancashire and South Lakes.

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UPDATE 22 DECEMBER.  UPDATED 11 May 2022, when more examples received.

The Shop Early slogan was reintroduced after the conclusion of the Let's Talk campaign.

Shop Early, Send Early this Christmas: Peterborough Mail Centre 12-12-2020, South East Anglia Mail Centre 12/12/2020, and 15/12/2020 reversed.

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In what could be the final campaign before the holiday break Royal Mail optimistically wished us a Merry Christmas!  Examples here from Home Counties North (21 12 2020) and a very clear one from Norwich Mail Centre 18-12-2020

Merry Christmas
from everyone
at Royal Mail!

The other layout, reversed, from Cornwall Mail Centre 21/12/2020

UPDATE 30 December:  Above is the other layout in normal format we received from Bristol (BA BS GL TA) dated 20/12/2020

My thanks to MC who provided this scan of the default Action for Children slogan which evidently came back into use on 24 December at Lancashire & South Lakes.  RM obviously decided it was too late to use 'Merry Christmas' at that stage.

'Action for Children supporting youth mental health' slogan reintroduced on 24 December 2020

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UPDATE 14 December.  Thanks to RW for the first Universal this season.  The sender "is from County Durham (Darlington)" but we don't know exactly where it was used, nor exactly when.

Where the circular town/date die should be there is a Census diamond instead.   These hark back to an era before mail centres had machines which could accurately count the mail throughput.  

"The "diamond" mark was used in Universal cancelling machines as a control mark when an annual postal census was taken usually in October or November. This procedure started as early as 1923 and ceased in 1985. The single impression dies were fitted with a counting device and the marking was to indicate that the item had been counted.

The count was normally made of all posted traffic (posted at, received at, forwarded and any counter business), including foreign mail, for one week at a particular office providing a record of the number of items passing through the machine per hour or per day and giving a representative of average weekly postings for the Post Office."  [Source: Rainer's Sideline collections.]

There is more discussion about this with many examples on the Stampboards forum.  

More Universals

2. Lancashire and South Lakes Remember the Postcode slogan on 9 December, and also with no town die (attributed by the contributor on the basis of the writer).

3. North & West Yorkshire with postcode slogan 10 December

4. Peterborough -A- with wavy lines (centre inverted)  Nov 2020 (but possibly used in December)

5. Peterborough SCM2 (?) with wavy lines all upright also Nov 2020.

6. JE sends this remarkable piece with a variety of postmarks on, described by him thus.

The cover was sent on 8 December from Stromness, Orkney, where it received the local SCM die and the 'Snowman' slogan. It then went to Aberdeen, where it was sorted by an Intelligent Letter Sorting Machine (iLSM), which added the shallow non-slogan version of its inkjet cancel. On arrival in Preston on 10 December it received the well-inked Universal 'Lancashire / South 37 Lakes' die, apparently with no slogan or wavy lines.  There does however appear to be a faint 'Postcode' slogan, with no 'town/date' die, at an angle across the Stromness slogan!  Perhaps some items which went through the machine which produced the 'no die' item already shown were then put through another machine with only the '37' die.

And given the age of the Millennium stamp it's surprising that any ink-jet postmarks were applied. Stromness makes its firs appearance this year - still waiting for Lerwick!

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As usual, this is where all interesting postmarks will be recorded for December, and it will be no surprise if there are some Universal machines pressed into service as often happens at this time of year.  While some people are saying that they will send fewer greetings cards because they have been in contstant touch, others are saying that they will send more than usual this year.  No doubt Royal Mail will tell us in due course just how busy they have been.

Any more will be added after the holiday break.  Keep looking!

 

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January 2020 postmark slogans and other interesting postmarks

Happy New Year everybody!  I'm not putting the New Year slogan here unless somebody sends a (late) January usage, but we start off with a cracker from AS.

Rather than an ink-jet slogan, we start with a Universal machine at Cornwall Mail Centre, using the old REMEMBER to use the POST CODE slogan.

The Horizon label is dated 02/01/20, but the postmark die is 1 Jan -- 2020.  The Horizon label must be right (barring a systems error), and the error is in the postmark.  They probably changed it on 31 December and forgot that they wouldn't need it on 1 January.

But why were they using it anyway?  Their inkjet is usually good enough.  Perhaps they didn't want to fire it up for a low volume of mail.  Maybe somebody with inside contacts can find out?

UPDATE 17 January:
Half way through the month and no new special slogans, but KH has sent something we haven't seen for a while, a copy of the oversize Manchester Packet ink-jet used on 19.12.19.  We showed a similar one here.  These are most often seen (and even that's not often) with an additional set of wavy lines below the whole of the postmark shown, but this one is just what you see here. 

In the absence of any others, a reminder that this is the default slogan used when nothing special is happening.  My thanks to BM for this from Swindon Mail Centre on 06-01-2000

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UPDATE 22 January
Royal Mail has announced A special ‘Stand Together’ Royal Mail postmark for Holocaust Memorial Day is to be stamped on millions of letters sent through the UK postal system from Monday (20th)

The announcement has been welcomed by Holocaust educators, given that the organisation handles more than 30 million letters per week. 

“We are proud to support the excellent work of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust with this special postmark,” a Royal Mail spokesperson said.

STAND TOGETHER

Holocaust Memorial

Day

27 January 2020

Visit www.hmd.org.uk

This picture of a specimen is taken from Royal Mail's press release.  More reactions.

No sooner had I put this on the blog, than member peterh put a real one on the Stampboards forum, so here is an example from SE Wales Mail Centre, 20-01-2020

 

UPDATE 3 February.  The other format shown here from Norwich on 27th January.  So it seems that the Burns Night postmark may have been used only in Scotland.?

UPDATE 26 JANUARY
The press release for Holocaust Memorial Day slogan said that it would run until 27th, but in Glasgow at least the Mail Centre was marking Burns Day with the usual slogan, on 24th.

Fair fa' your honest,

sonsie face,

Great Chieftain o' the 

Puddin-race!

Burns Night

25 January 2020

 

UPDATE 3 February.  I've taken this image from the Stampboards forum.  The CDS shows that it was posted on 31 January, and that it was posted in Northwich, so the Mail Centre was probably Chester.

World Cancer Day
4 February 2020
#IAmAndIWill

Update 4 February.  We're on an interesting cross-over now as some of the last slogans for January will continue into February, so I will show some of these in a new February post as well.  

World Cancer Day in the other format from Plymouth and Cornwall Mail Centre and Gatwick Mail Centre both on 03/02/2020.  I've also been sent examples of the above format from Norwich, and the one below from Bristol Mail Centres but both are so poor that they are not worth showing.

Also in use on 31/01/2020, at Tyneside and Bristol Mail Centres is this new slogan for LGBT+ History Month.  Again, Bristol's impression is poor with the source appearing to be DA, DG, GL & TA - which is a very wide spread of postal areas!

February is

LGBT+ History

Month

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Inkjet slogans will appear here for the whole of January.  Any Universal usage will appear in a separate block after the slogans.   And as there may still be news to come from December when people examine their envelopes closely, don't forget to check back there from time to time.


UPDATE 10 February 
Reviewing the office mail for January, RS has found an example of the Universal machine used at Jubilee Mail Centre (the offset on the reverse was clearer) dated 21 I 2020. (See also Feb 10 post about High Wycombe.)

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