I’m not sure if it’s just me who missed this but did you know that the Royal Mail are painting Post Boxes Gold in each winning Great Britain’s athlete’s hometown? I’d heard about the limited edition commemorative stamps which the Royal Mail have been printing for each GB gold medal win but that’s not all!
Not only is this a unique and highly visible way of recognising the successes of Team GB and Paralympics GB, the UK is apparently the first country to paint its post boxes gold in celebration of the gold medal wins! This is the first occasion in modern times when Royal Mail has changed the colour of its post boxes, according to the Royal Mail Group, red has been the standard colour for UK boxes since 1874.
Throughout the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics a dedicated team will be on standby to transform the specially selected post boxes within days of a Team GB win. The post boxes chosen will, wherever possible, be in the home-town of the winning athlete, or both home-towns for teams of two. To celebrate a gold medal win by teams of more than two competitors, the post box chosen to be painted gold will be in a location relevant to all team members.
This is a brilliant way to celebrate Team GB’s success! Royal Mail’s post boxes are a much-loved part of the UK landscape and now with a sparkly gold transformation the postboxes will become a bit of a treasure hunt for locals and those visiting each area.
The gold boxes will remain in use and customers will be able to post mail in these boxes as normal. Mail collections from the boxes will also be unaffected. The Royal Mail Group writes that “the boxes will be repainted in Royal Mail’s traditional red in due course.”
The Royal Mail have also been encouraging people who come across the gold postboxes to tweet pictures of them using the hashtag #goldpostbox when they find each one! Click the Gold Post Box image below to be redirected to the Royal Mail’s website.
Don’t forget, if you’re
#goldpostboxspotting upload your pics to goldpostboxes.com/gallery and we’ll RT. We’re loving the photos!#goldpostboxes— Royal Mail News (@royalmailnews) August 8, 2012
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