Skegness Magazine

Special issue of World Cup stamps kept Skegness P.O. workers busy in 1966!

POST Office workers in Skegness were rushed off their feet on a Wednesday in 1966 when more than 500 people clamoured for sets of World Cup postage stamps specially issued for the occasion.

The rush began when the Post Office opened at 9 o’clock, and the philatelists poured in eager to snap up the colourful stamps.
But it was not only the stamps which attracted the collectors. Skegness was one of only 80 towns and cities throughout the country which offered customers at the Post Office a special first day cover service for new issue stamps.
With the service, the buyer can buy a special envelope, on this occasion bearing a green section in one corner with a football depicted in the centre.

BY HAND
They can then attach the three stamps,. priced 4d., 6d. and 1s. 3d., and post their ‘letter’ in a private post box on the office counter.
The letters are collected and stamped by hand with a ‘first day of issue ‘ rubber stamp bearing the date and the normal Skegness, Lincs, postmark.
Said assistant head postmaster Mr. K. S. Archer: “The service was introduced at Skegness about three issues ago when we had Westminster Abbey stamps on sale.
” It has proved successful, and is becoming more and more popular with collectors and dealers in the town every time there is a new issue.”
There is a lot of painstaking and skilful work behind the production of the first day cover stamping.
Not only are the postmarks put on the envelopes by hand, every care is taken to ensure the mark goes on the stamps neatly and without the trace of a smudge. They are then laid out at the rear of the sorting office, and make an attractive, colourful sight as they dry out.
Eventually they go in with the rest of the mail to be sent wherever the posters wish, some to be delivered to local houses, others to far distant parts of the world.
Mir. Archer said that the Post Office had a ” terrific rush ” for new issues. “Not only for the special service,” he said, ” but for separate stamps, sheets, and the three-stamp packs.”

INFORMATIVE
These packs, more for the football fan than the collector, contain information about the design and printing of the issue, with inside information on the history of the World Cup and a list of the countries competing in July.

Skegness First Day Cover Issue 1966 World Cup Stamps

Were YOU lucky enough to secure one of these 1966 World Cup first issue covers?