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Letter to Daily Telegraph

Royal Mail needs to get its paintbrushes out

“SIR – Angie Bell (Letters, February 14) is right. Tatty post boxes are a disgrace. Royal Mail and English Heritage published a joint policy statement in 2002 in which Royal Mail undertook…” read more… Read More

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Advent Calendar Dec 10 - J = Jana In the 1980s th

Advent Calendar Dec 10 - J = Jana

In the 1980s the Royal Mail was suffering from a shortage of postboxes. They called on Jana Enterprises in Humberside to produce postboxes out of plastic. Jana, who were already making pouch boxes for posties to store mail for their delivery rounds, modified the design into a postbox. Unlike yesterday's indoor boxes, these were placed outside.

The back external hinge is one of the key identifiers of a Jana postbox. Originally a bright red colour, those remaining have faded to orange. Janas are not very durable, and most have been removed from service.

Pictured are a Jana postbox and pouch box pair, and a standalone Jana postbox in Sheffield that made a brief appearance in The Full Monty. Another small Jana box can be found at the Pwllheli Delivery Office in Gwynedd.

#adventcalendar #christmas #postbox #plastic #design #mailbox #letterbox #letterboxstudygroup #lbsg #streetfurniture #sheffield #thefullmonty #postboxes #postboxesofinstagram

Advent Calendar Dec 9 - I = Indoors The 20th Cent

Advent Calendar Dec 9 - I = Indoors

The 20th Century has seen a wide variety of postboxes made for indoor use. From 'postbox TVs', to plastic multi-functional postal suites, to the modern steel pillar box with an 'elephants foot' for indoor use, these postboxes can be found in all kinds of environments - airports, hospitals, supermarkets, stations and more.

You'll most likely spot one of the large fibreglass boxes by made by Broadwater Holdings, a design used until very recently, with the Royal Mail name on the hood (Post Brenhinol in Wales) and the cipher underneath the collection plate. On several of these, diligent cleaners have erased the name and cipher from the box over years of cleaning.

With the Post Office now a separate entity from Royal Mail, new boxes have begun appearing in post offices too. Though they still work closely, the Post Office has often ended up providing their own boxes for mail, separated between letters and parcels. Post Office staff pass on this post to Royal Mail as with any other mail they receive from customers.

#adventcalendar #christmas #postbox #postoffice #mailbox #letterbox #royalmail #postboxes #streetfurniture #postboxesofinstagram #postboxsaturday #letterboxstudygroup #lbsg

Advent Calendar Dec 8 - H = Hovis If you can't im

Advent Calendar Dec 8 - H = Hovis

If you can't immediately tell why this iconic postbox is named after a loaf of bread, take another look. More officially this is a 'semi-circular top' lamp box, a design which appeared in 1896 and last until 1935. They were based on the US 'type No. 2' street letter box, which had been in use in the US for over 20 years. Similar boxes were also in use in New Zealand and Australia.

Known as 'lamp boxes' due to their being fixed on lamp posts (and later telegraph poles), the post office wasn't sure how successful these smaller boxes would be. The they had apertures 4 3/4 inches (12 cm) across - not very practical for larger letters, or indeed covid test packs. In 2020 the LBSG helped Royal Mail ensure that these and other small-aperture boxes would not be chosen as priority postboxes.

Lamp boxes turned out to be very successful. Later versions were stuck on a pole instead of tied to posts, and now they and pillar boxes are the only postbox styles being made in the UK, with wall boxes stopping production in 1980.

#letterboxstudygroup #lbsg #postbox #mailbox #letterbox #usa #lampbox #streetfurniture #postboxes #postboxesofinstagram #history #station #trainstation #railway #railwaystation

Advent Calendar Dec 7 - G = Gold! 2012 saw London

Advent Calendar Dec 7 - G = Gold!

2012 saw London host the Olympic Games, and as each British Olympian gained a gold medal, the Royal Mail painted a postbox in their home town gold in their honour. This was repeated for the Paralympic Games that followed. With Britain achieving 29 Olympic and 34 Paralympic medals, some shared between multiple people that meant over 100 postboxes turned gold. In addition, a few people took it upon themselves to give their postboxes an unofficial gold makeover, if they felt the official gold box was in the wrong place, a handful of which were kept gold by Royal Mail though the rest reverted to red. There's also a gold medal box outside Westminster Abbey celebrating the games as a whole.

This gold paint job was never intended to be permanent, but they were so beloved by the British public that they have remained gold ever since. They can be found all over the UK, on all shapes, sizes and ages of postboxes - even a modern steel lamp box installed long after 2012 was given an exclusive coat of gold paint and a black cipher plate instead of the usual silver.

The pictured box in Larkhill is also G for another reason as it's a Type G pillar box. Rectangular rather than round, it has its lovers and its haters. The photo was taken in 2012 shortly after it was unofficially painted in celebration of coxless four gold medallist Heather Stanning, who is from Lossiemouth in Scotland, and has since been returned to its traditional red.

#postbox #pillarbox #letterbox #mailbox #gold #goldmedal #goldpostbox #olympics #

Advent Calendar Dec 6 - F = Fluted Shortly after

Advent Calendar Dec 6 - F = Fluted

Shortly after the invention of the postbox a number of iron foundries created their own versions in small numbers, purchased by the postmasters of their respective towns and cities. One example is the fluted pillar box, a timeless design shaped like a classical column, made by the Eagle Foundry in Birmingham. The pictured examples are both in Warwick, on either end of the High Street at the west and east gates. Installed as a pair in 1856, they are still in use to this day.

The term "fluted" refers to the ridge pattern around the body of the box. Modern pillar boxes still reflect this design in the flutes around the caps of the boxes. These boxes can be found with both vertical and horizontal apertures.

Recently one of these pillar boxes in Malvern was knocked over in a car accident. Having been taken away by Royal Mail, it was restored and is now back in use. Other fluted boxes have been found all the way around the world in Australia.

#postbox #pillarbox #warwick #history #mailbox #letterbox #streetfurniture #malvern #architecture #design #castiron #adventcalendar #christmas

Advent Calendar Dec 5 - E = Edward VIII Edward VI

Advent Calendar Dec 5 - E = Edward VIII

Edward VIII was a controversial British monarch for a number of reasons. He was not particularly happy to be king, and didn't take to his duties well, making the Royal family unhappy. He was in a relationship with an American (horror!) divorcee (gasp!) Wallis Simpson, which the church severely frowned upon; (He had even proposed to her before her second divorce was completed) as head of the Church of England he was supposed to maintain certain standards. Our current monarch may be grateful the church isn't so upset about divorces in the 21st Century.

The first Edward VIII postboxes were installed in the last few months of 1936, and after his abdication a number of them were promptly uninstalled. Some Ludlow wall boxes were doctored to become George VI wall boxes, all manufactured standard wall box doors were replaced, and none remain as far as we know. George V pillar boxes were put back into manufacture, and we know of several that were definitely made in 1937, before George VI's cipher was finalised and his boxes began appearing.

One of the first tasks of the Letter Box Study Group was locating all the Edward VIII pillar boxes, and we know of around 150 pillars and Ludlow boxes. Have you got one near you? The pictured box is in East London, and has a stamp vending machine attached.

#postbox #pillarbox #mailbox #letterbox #postboxesofinstagram #adventcalendar #christmas #edwardviii #streetfurniture #history #stampvendingmachine #lbsg #letterboxstudygroup

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DECEMBER 2023 – SINGING CHRISTMAS POSTBOXES SERENADE THE PUBLIC 5th December 2023
JUNE 2023 – CRAFTY ROYAL FANS USE THEIR IMAGINATION TO THE FULL ON LETTER BOXES CELEBRATING THE CORONATION 28th June 2023
MAY 2023 – ‘LIVERPOOL SPECIAL’ LOOKING EVEN MORE SPECIAL FOR EUROVISION 9th May 2023
MAY 2023 – SPECIAL POSTBOXES TO CELEBRATE THE CORONATION 9th May 2023

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