News and press releases

Royal Mail will produce a stamp in 24 hours to honour Jessica Ennis’ gold medal triumph in the Women’s Heptathlon.

The stamps will be on sale in over 500 Post Offices across the UK, including for at least three hours this Sunday 5th August. This is the first time that many of these branches have opened on Sundays, to ensure that fans can celebrate Team GB’s achievements and start a unique and special London 2012 souvenir collection.

Jessica’s stamps will be available tomorrow at three Post Offices in her home town of Sheffield, Royal Mail will also paint a post box gold in Sheffield to celebrate her win.

Customers can also purchase the stamps from tomorrow at www.royalmail.com/goldmedalstamps and from Royal Mail’s customer service centre on 08457 641 641 located at Tallents House, 21 South Gyle Crescent, Edinburgh, EH12 PPB.

As soon as Jessica won her gold medal, Getty Images, the official Photo Agency of the IOC, submitted a selection of the best images from that moment to the eight-strong Royal Mail design team. The Royal Mail design team had just one hour to review all the images sent, locate the most fitting and atmospheric image, crop and refine the photo, add Jessica’s name, then position within the templated design of the six-stamp miniature sheet.

On stand-by, poised to collect the completed sheets once printed, are a fleet of 90 Royal Mail vehicles ready to deliver them to over 500 Post Offices to be on sale tomorrow.

An additional 4,700 post offices will receive the Gold Medal stamps within a week.

For more information and the full list of the Post Office branches selling 2012 Team GB Gold Medal stamps visit www.postoffice.co.uk

Royal Mail Group Press Office

100 Victoria Embankment
LONDON
EC4Y 0HQ
Tel: 020 7250 2468
Email: press.office@royalmail.com  
www.royalmailgroup.com

Notes to Editors

• The next day Post Offices in Sheffield are:

       o Crystal Peaks, Unit 42 – 43, The Market Place Mall, S20 7PL

       o Castle House, Angel Street, S3 8LN

       o Millhouses, 985 Abbeydale Road, S7 2QD

• To find your nearest branch selling 2012 Team GB Gold Medal stamps, select the branch finder option. Enter your postcode or town and select “Gold Medal Next Day Stamps or Gold Medal Weekly Stamps” from the service required drop-down menu.
• The Team GB Gold Medal stamps are presented for purchase as a sheet of six First Class stamps for £3.60. The sheet carries additional information on the winning athlete or athletes. The stamps can also be bought individually at Post Offices.
• For information on Royal Mail’s range of Olympic and Paralympic stamps visit www.royalmail.com/goldmedalstamps
• For all the latest information on all Royal Mail special stamps launches and news, please follow us on Twitter: @RoyalMailNews and @RoyalMailStamps
• Royal Mail has showcased all the sports disciplines that will be seen in this summer’s Games in three sets of stamps counting down to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
• Royal Mail issued its first Olympic Games stamps in 1948, with four stamps bearing the five Olympic Rings. No stamps were issued in 1908 as Royal Mail stamps at that time bore images of the reigning monarch only.
• At the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Team GB won 19 gold medals.
• Australia Post was the first postal service to issue gold medal stamps to mark home team Olympic victories in 2000, with Hellenic Post in Greece following suit in 2004.
• At the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, China Post issued a stamp product to mark each Chinese Gold Medal win. This was a sheet of stamps with labels attached and an image of the winning athlete was printed on the labels. This was repeated for all Gold Medal wins.
• More recently, Canada Post issued a stamp featuring an image of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games gold medal. This was issued to mark the first time a Canadian had won an Olympic gold medal on home territory.