10 months ago

This will be the first time ever any host country has issued Gold Medal stamps for their Paralympic winners since the movement was founded in 1948 at Stoke Mandeville Hospital by Dr Ludwig Guttmann.


•   The stamps will be on sale at 518 dedicated Post Offices across the UK within five working days of each gold medal win and thereafter at a further 5,000 branches.

•   The Gold Medal stamps will be presented for purchase as a sheet of two First Class stamps for £1.20. The sheet carries additional information on the winning athlete or athletes. The stamps can also be bought individually at Post Offices.

•   Royal Mail will also turn one of it historic post boxes gold in the hometown of every ParalympicsGB gold medallist just as it did for TeamGB winners during the Olympic Games.

•   The main image of the stamp will, wherever possible, be a photograph of the ParalympicsGB athlete or team from their gold medal winning journey or following their win.

•   Royal Mail has a proud history of commemorating the London Olympic Games, having issued 29 gold medal stamps for the London 2012 Olympic Games, as well as four stamps for the 1948 Games bearing the five Olympic Rings.
 
Following the success of TeamGB at the London 2012 Olympics and in response to public demand, Royal Mail is gearing up to continue to paint the UK gold with gold post boxes and individual Gold Medal stamps for the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
 
Royal Mail will issue individual first class stamps for each ParalympicsGB individual or team gold medal winner. The stamps will be on sale in 518 dedicated Post Offices across the UK within five working days of each gold medal win and at a further 5,000 branches thereafter.
 
The Gold Medal stamps will be presented for purchase as a sheet of two First Class stamps for £1.20. The sheet carries additional information on the winning athlete or athletes. The stamps can also be bought individually at Post Offices for 60p each.
 
This will be the first time ever that a set of stamps have been issued to celebrate Paralympic gold medallists from the host country. On 29 August, Royal Mail will also become the first postal administration whose country is hosting the Games to issue a set of stamps to celebrate the start of the Paralympic Games.

"We hope that the whole nation will continue their support of British athletes and cheer us on to many gold medals."Tim Hollingsworth

This summer, around 4,200 athletes from 160 countries are expected to attend the Paralympic Games, with 471 medal events on the programme spread across 21 sports. At the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games, ParalympicsGB won 42 gold medals.

Andrew Hammond, Managing Director, Royal Mail Stamps, said: “Following the great success of TeamGB at the Olympics, the popularity of Royal Mail’s Gold Medal stamps and the way in which our gold post boxes have captured the public imagination, we have decided to commemorate ParalympicsGB’s achievements in the same way.

“We believe this is the right thing to do.

“Just as our Olympians outperformed expectations, we are confident that our Paralympians will also outperform. That would see us issuing many more individual stamps than the 29 printed over the London 2012 Olympics fortnight. This is a huge logistical challenge and we will get the Gold Medal stamps for sale as quickly as possible to a network of Post Office branches around the country and certainly within five working days of a win.

“We are excited about our Paralympics Gold Medal stamps programme, which represents the greatest logistical challenge in stamps production ever undertaken by any postal administration.

“The stamps will be a wonderful way for people across the country to celebrate ParalympicsGB’s gold medal wins and help mark their amazing achievement. Royal Mail is proud to be involved in this once in a lifetime event and to provide financial support to the UK’s talented athletes.”

Tim Hollingsworth, Chief Executive Officer, British Paralympic Association, said: “We are delighted that the offer has been increased to enable individual stamps to celebrate our athletes' achievements and thank Royal Mail for reconsidering this proposal."

Royal Mail has a long association with the British Paralympic Association. In 1992, Royal Mail was the official sponsor of the British Olympic and Paralympic teams, at the Barcelona games. This year, in support of ParalympicsGB, Royal Mail donated £200,000 to the British Paralympics Association, which will be shared equally among all ParalympicsGB gold medallists.