ABBOTSBURY Swannery and Olympian Sir Ben Ainslie winning gold in the waters off Weymouth and Portland in 2012 are among the themes for special Royal Mail stamps which can now be seen online.
Royal Mail has launched a website displaying the 2,663 designs of special stamps to mark the programme’s 50th anniversary.
The designs include Abbotsbury Swannery and a stamp from 2012 to mark Sir Ben’s historic sailing triumph during the Olympics.
The Abbotsbury stamps were released to mark the swannery’s 600th anniversary in 1993.
The swannery, which is the only managed colony of mute swans in the world, was first mentioned in 1393 but it seems certain that a colony of mute swans has been nesting in the Fleet long before that date.
Sir Ben became the greatest sailing Olympian of all time as he secured a fourth successive gold medal at the Games in July 2012.
The special stamp programme celebrates events and commemorates anniversaries relevant to all UK characteristics.
Over the past 50 years, the people, places and iconic images of the South West of England have appeared on numerous stamps.
The online gallery shows every special stamp issued since July 1965.
Criteria for the creation of special stamps to celebrate events and commemorate anniversaries relevant to UK heritage and life was devised by the then Postmaster General, Tony Benn.
The stamp of Sir Winston Churchill, issued in July of that year, was the first under Mr Benn’s administration.
Stamps can be viewed at rmspecialstamps.com
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