APRIL 2026 – BELFAST’S NEW SOLAR-POWERED CHARLES III PARCEL POSTBOX Royal Mail launched today the first of a completely new design of solar-powered parcel postbox. Sited outside Ulster University’s Birley Building in Belfast ‘s York Street, it is the first parcel postbox in Northern Ireland to bear the cipher of King Charles III and has a special plaque attached to record the event. Students from… Read More
MARCH 2026 – BOXES STANDING THE TEST OF TIME On 18th February 2026 the Daily Mail published a question about letter boxes in its ‘Answers to Correspondents’ Section: ‘How many Victorian letter boxes are still in use across the country and do they have a preservation order on them?’ LBSG Chair Andrew R Young responded with the answer which was published in the paper… Read More
DECEMBER 2025 – ROYAL MAIL POST BOX LIFTS SPIRITS FOR STAFF IN ANTARCTICA The staff at the UK’s Rothera Research Station in Antarctica have been gifted a Royal Mail lamp box featuring the King Charles III cypher – just in time for Christmas. The new post box was requested by Kirsten Shaw, a station support assistant who runs a British Antarctic Territory Post Office for staff at Rothera… Read More
SEPTEMBER 2025 – ROYAL MAIL DELIVERS SOLAR-POWERED POSTBOXES NATIONWIDE After a successful trial in April, Royal Mail now are rolling out ‘postboxes of the future’ to 3,500 postboxes across the UK. These are modifications to existing Elizabeth II and Scottish Crown pillar boxes rather than brand new ones. The main features are a modified aperture with a small slot for letters; a drop-down drawer… Read More
JUNE 2025 – KNITTED POSTBOX TOPPERS TAKE OVER LBSG MEMBER’S MUSEUM Letter Box Study Group member Arthur Reeder owns the largest collection of postboxes in the UK – some 260 of them, in all sorts of shapes and sizes from earliest Victorian boxes to the present day. What better a location for a group of knitters to yarn bomb to raise money for an Alzheimer’s… Read More
APRIL 2025 – ROYAL MAIL UNVEILS POSTBOX OF THE FUTURE TO MAKE SENDING PARCELS EASIER Royal Mail has unveiled a solar-powered postbox of the future as the company continues to find ways to make sending parcels easier. The iconic postbox design has been given a modern makeover including an extra-large opening to accept parcels larger than those that fit through a letterbox for the first time. Customers scan their parcel’s… Read More
MARCH 2025 – HAVE YOU SEEN A CHARLES III LETTER BOX YET? The first letter box bearing the cipher of King Charles III entered service on 12 July 2024. That pillar box, on the High Street, Great Cambourne, Cambridgeshire, carries a special plaque on the back, recording its historic role. It has taken some time for further examples to arrive on the streets, but Charles III postboxes… Read More
JULY 2024 – THE FIRST CIIIR POSTBOX IS UNVEILED LIVE ON BBC BREAKFAST BBC1 covered the unveiling of the first Charles III postbox extensively in its breakfast programme on Friday 12th July. Charlie Stayt and Naga Munchetty introduced John Maguire who was reporting live from the High Street in Great Cambourne. … Read More
FEBRUARY 2024 – WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PILLAR BOX AND A LETTER BOX? This question was answered recently in The Times. The newspaper’s archive editor Rose Wild writes a weekly feedback column on issues from its Letters page, and on 27th January 2024 we were very pleased to read the following: “I was too quick off the mark last week when I apologised for not knowing the difference… Read More
POST BOXES GO LIVE ON FIVE THE BBC’S Radio Five Live dedicated an entire hour to a detailed discussion of post boxes on 28 November 2023. Hosted by Colin Murray, two LBSG members contributed to the show. Arthur Reeder and Robert Cole spoke along side Chris Taft from the Postal Museum and Colin Sinclair, an enthusiast who was on holiday in… Read More