GB: Royal Mail goes to L with the first part of A-Z

norvic · **Posted:** Thu Jul 14, 2011 20:10:27 pm

A-Z of the UK (Pt 1) - 13 October 2011.

For each letter of the alphabet an iconic landmark of the UK is assigned, ranging from ancient to modern and from spiritual to spectacular; but each has an essential presence in the nation's fabric. The stamps will be printed in two sheets, each having 6 columns, which will enable multiples of the same design/location to be purchased without the expensive of buying the whole set/sheet.

When this was first revealed as part of the 2011 programme it sounded like a good idea especially if it was issued as four sets of 6/7 or six sets of 4/5. However, Royal Mail seem to have realised that a schedule like that could not be accommodated alongside the regular stamp programme adn still reach 'Z' by the time the Olympics visitors arrived, so the 26 1st class stamps are being issued in two parts, with a set of 12 (A-L) on 13 October 2011 and a further 14 stamps (M-Z) on 10 April 2012.

The captions on these pre-production publicity images are almost bad enough for me to ask members to identify the locations, A-L! Go ahead.

huanga · **Posted:** Thu Jul 14, 2011 20:52:29 pm

norvic, I've been in and out of UK a few times but some of the 'Icons?' I have never even heard off.

Row one. Blackpool, and ? ?
Row two Camerons den, Edwards iconic instrument of mastery of the Scots, and I've crossed the Forth.

Row three. The Welsh castle, the Iron bridge, and ?
Row four.? ? ?

Huanga

drh · **Posted:** Thu Jul 14, 2011 21:21:56 pm

Jodrell Bank in Cheshire.

As seen here:

gavin-h · **Posted:** Thu Jul 14, 2011 22:40:03 pm

I managed to pick out:

Angel of the North
Blackpool Tower
Carrickfergus ????
Downing Street
Edinburgh Castle
Forth Railway Bridge
Glastonbury Tor
Harlech Castle ???
Ironbridge
Jodrell Bank
K??????
Lindisfarne Priory

EDIT: Looking at "K" again, it seems to be "Kursaal" - rather out of place imho...

drh · **Posted:** Thu Jul 14, 2011 23:27:57 pm

I don't know, seems quite iconic:

Quote:

The Kursaal was the world's first ever theme park, pre-dating Coney Island in America. Designed by the architect Campbell Sherrin, also responsible for amongst other things, the Brompton Oratory, the Kursaal building and its Dome were at the cutting edge of architectural design.

The "Kursaal" included a circus, ballroom, arcade with amusements, dining hall and billiard room.There were many firsts at the Kursaal. The world's first Lady Lion Tamer, the world's first Lady Wall of death Rider performed here, it was the first venue in England for the display of Al Capone's personal car from Chicago, and Eric the sixty ton stuffed whale!

http://kick-butt.co.uk/kursaal/

norvic · **Posted:** Thu Jul 14, 2011 23:57:00 pm

And in Royal Mail's description:

Kursaal
The Kursaal in Southend Essex, was designed by the architect Campbell Sherrin, also responsible for amongst other things, the Brompton Oratory. The Kursaal building and its Dome were at the cutting edge of architectural design. Originally intended as an entertainment venue and gardens, the twenty-six acre site rapidly included the latest attractions and rides as they were developed. Famous in the 1920s and 1930s as the fairground of the East End of London, the Kursaal was at its peak at the start of World War II. The Kursaal went into decline in the 1970s, when more people took holidays abroad. The land was sold off for building development, and in 1973 the Kursaal amusement park was closed down and in the 1986 the building finally closed. Following many years of dereliction the Kursaal building was reopened in 1998 after a multi-million pound redevelopment and restoration, It is now a listed building, forming part of the Kursaal conservation area.

And Gavin-h is right but for one. It is Harlech Castle, on it's disinctive sea cliff some way from the now-departed sea. But not Carrickfergus.

Clue: it appeared on the Glorious Northern Ireland Smilers Sheet, and our first day cover for same.

aethelwulf · **Posted:** Fri Jul 15, 2011 00:08:30 am

I remember the Forth Bridge was covered in an art history class, and they were a wonderful quotation from a critic in the textbook, something along the lines of "ugly of uglies". I still laugh when I hear "Firth of Forth", so appropriate that it would be Scots that come up with a name like that. :mrgreen:

At the complete other end, Jodrell Bank I can always pick as its mentioned in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

AKPhilately · **Posted:** Fri Jul 15, 2011 00:20:36 am

I actually quite like them!

phrag99 · **Posted:** Fri Jul 15, 2011 00:35:49 am

26 letters of the alphabet; 12 stamps in this issue; suggests there will be 12 in the next one - which neatly gets around the problem of iconic buildings beginning "X" or "Z".

norvic · **Posted:** Fri Jul 15, 2011 00:50:14 am

phrag99 wrote:

26 letters of the alphabet; 12 stamps in this issue; suggests there will be 12 in the next one - which neatly gets around the problem of iconic buildings beginning "X" or "Z".

No, there are 14 in the next one. Quite how they will produce them, I don't know. These are in two sheets each containing 5 rows of the 6 stamps, enabling purchase of strips of 5 of the same design.

HKStampsGuru · **Posted:** Fri Jul 15, 2011 14:17:47 pm

I like this too. I thought they would somehow highlight the alphabet letter to show the A to Z concept.

aethelwulf · **Posted:** Fri Jul 15, 2011 18:45:41 pm

phrag99 wrote:

26 letters of the alphabet; 12 stamps in this issue; suggests there will be 12 in the next one - which neatly gets around the problem of iconic buildings beginning "X" or "Z".

Xylophone museum and Zebra house at Kew Gardens?

norvic · **Posted:** Fri Jul 15, 2011 19:53:38 pm

aethelwulf wrote:

phrag99 wrote:

26 letters of the alphabet; 12 stamps in this issue; suggests there will be 12 in the next one - which neatly gets around the problem of iconic buildings beginning "X" or "Z".

Xylophone museum and Zebra house at Kew Gardens?

Zoological Gardens?

And we still haven't identified C, unless I missed it.

dollaryen · **Posted:** Fri Jul 15, 2011 20:36:34 pm

Hi Norvic, is this it :

Wikipedia says :

Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge is a rope suspension bridge near Ballintoy, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The bridge links the mainland to the tiny Carrick Island. The site is owned and maintained by the National Trust, spans twenty metres and is thirty metres above the rocks below.[1] Today the bridge is mainly a tourist attraction, with 247,000 visitors in 2009. The bridge is now open all year round.

norvic · **Posted:** Fri Jul 15, 2011 20:48:30 pm

That's the one! So with Gavin-h's list earlier we have:

Angel of the North - Blackpool Tower - Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge

Downing Street - Edinburgh Castle - Forth Railway Bridge

Glastonbury Tor - Harlech Castle - Ironbridge

Jodrell Bank - Kursaal (Southend-on-Sea) - Lindisfarne Priory

Now, we have until April to work out the rest of the alphabet; do you think we should start a new thread?

drh · **Posted:** Fri Jul 15, 2011 20:53:56 pm

M25
Natural History Museum
Old Trafford
P
Q
R
Stonehenge
T
Uffington White Horse
V
White Cliffs of Dover
X
Y
Z

dollaryen · **Posted:** Fri Jul 15, 2011 20:54:50 pm

Maybe a new thread then we can make suggestions and post pictures of likely contenders, even influence what is chosen unless it has already been decided. :!:

norvic · **Posted:** Fri Jul 15, 2011 21:11:43 pm

dollaryen wrote:

Maybe a new thread then we can make suggestions and post pictures of likely contenders, even influence what is chosen unless it has already been decided. :!:

Done this and copied drh's suggestions here viewtopic.php?f=13&t=29175

No more new suggestions on this thread, please.

norvic · **Posted:** Tue Aug 16, 2011 06:34:14 am

Another thread discusses postmarks available for FDCs. As explained, Royal Mail has one for the Bureau in Edinburgh and another for one other location for each set. And sponsors can choose other locations, or the same. So what do I expect for this issue?

Angel of the North - doubtful

Blackpool Tower - yes, iconic landmark.

Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge - Northern Ireland generally misses out, unless it's the Giant's Causeway, for which there is already an odd permanent postmark -

Downing Street - possibly

Edinburgh Castle - almost certainly as it is used every time there is an excuse

Forth Railway Bridge - quite likely

Glastonbury Tor - possible

Harlech Castle - Wales usually misses out as well unless it's Caernarvon!

Ironbridge - yes, been done to death, but it will appear again

Jodrell Bank - unlikely but maybe one of the smaller producers will get in

Kursaal (Southend-on-Sea) - most unlikely, but there is also a permanent postmark here

Lindisfarne Priory - possible.

We should find out what will be available around mid-September.

norvic · **Posted:** Tue Oct 18, 2011 07:25:15 am

In this earlier post I indicated which of the A-L locations I expected to have a relevant pictorial postmark. I had not anticipated that one of the cover producers would sponsor postmarks for multiple locations - but even they missed some - so I have amended the post below to show the postmarks produced.

norvic wrote:

Another thread discusses postmarks available for FDCs. As explained, Royal Mail has one for the Bureau in Edinburgh and another for one other location for each set. And sponsors can choose other locations, or the same. So what do I expect for this issue?

Angel of the North - doubtful - wrong:

Blackpool Tower - yes, iconic landmark - yes, but only on official FD postmark and generic flag postmark

Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge - Northern Ireland generally misses out, - correct; there is a generic flag postmark but it has the wrong location! The postmark reads Ballycastle but the correct postal address for the bridge is a few miles down the road at Ballintoy.

Downing Street - possibly - two actually:

Edinburgh Castle - almost certainly as it is used every time there is an excuse - correct, on the official FDI postmark, a Scottish lion and a generic flag one.

Forth Railway Bridge - quite likely - originally just the generic flag but a pictorial one showing the bridge has been announced after I sent my maximum cards off :twisted:

(not yet scanned)

Glastonbury Tor - possible, but asking too much

Harlech Castle - Wales usually misses out as well unless it's Caernarvon! I was wrong - there are three including the flag!

Ironbridge - yes, been done to death, but it will appear again Sadly I was wrong and the closest we get is a generic flag postmark for nearby Telford.

Jodrell Bank - unlikely but maybe one of the smaller producers will get in Wrong again - a nice pictorial, the closest generic flag too far away to be applicable

(Southend-on-Sea) - most unlikely, but there is also a permanent postmark here; the generic flag isn't really about the Kursaal

Lindisfarne Priory - possible. - Would have been nice but not even a generic flag for this one. Fortunately the Holy Island postmaster was very accommodating and has cancelled my maximum cards with his counter datestamp. Pictures to follow!

norvic · **Posted:** Wed Nov 23, 2011 21:42:28 pm

And here are the stamps used on commercial covers (competition entries):

steevh · **Posted:** Thu Nov 24, 2011 17:26:26 pm

These stamps remind me of the Thai scenery series (of which there have been more than one). The UK could do a lot worse than copying Thai stamp designs...


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