Red post boxes turn gold
The Royal mail is painting a red post box gold in the hometown of each gold medal winner at the Olympics, starting with Penzance, hometown of rower Helen Glover


To mark Helen Glover's gold medal winning performance, Royal Mail has painted the iconic red post box in Quay Street, Penzance, gold. The UK is the first country to paint post boxes gold to celebrate Olympic and Paralympic gold medal wins.
Royal Mail will be painting its iconic and much-loved red post boxes gold to celebrate every Team GB and Paralympics GB gold medal win during the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. The gold post boxes will be located in the hometowns of the gold medallists wherever possible. To celebrate a gold medal win by a Team GB team, a post box will be painted gold for every team member.
* Summer Country Life Subscriptions Sale - Save £55 a year!
The gold post box in Penzance is a unique opportunity for residents to celebrate the win and raise the profile of their town's own gold medallist Olympian.
The gold boxes will remain in use and customers will be able to post mail in these boxes as normal. Mail collections from the boxes will also be unaffected. The boxes will be repainted in Royal Mail's traditional red in due course.
To celebrate the win of Helen Glover and Heather Stanning in the Women's Pair rowing final, Royal Mail also produced special gold medal stamps yesterday which are on sale in more than 500 Post Offices from around lunchtime today. The stamps feature an image of Helen and Heather celebrating their win just after crossing the finishing line. A further 4,700 branches will be selling the gold medal stamps within a week of a win.
* Follow Country Life magazine on Twitter
Sign up for the Country Life Newsletter
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
-
London's Tate Modern celebrates its 25th birthday with the help of a giant arachnid and crustaceous telephone
Artwork by Louise Bourgeois and Salvador Dali, among others, will be on display for the gallery's Birthday Weekender event.
-
'The watch is Head Boy of men’s accessorising': Ginnie Chadwyck-Healey and Tom Chamberlin's Summer Season style secrets
When it comes to dressing for the Season, accessories will transform an outfit. Ginnie Chadwyck-Healey and Tom Chamberlin, both stylish summer-party veterans, offer some sage advice.