Girl Guiding: Miniature Sheet Stamps

These Royal Mail stamps were affixed to specially designed envelopes and postmarked on the first day that the stamps were issued.

02.02.2010 | Guides on rigging, Postmarked at London SW1

BUY NOW   £25 Girl Guiding: Miniature Sheet, Guides on rigging Girl Guiding: Miniature Sheet, Guides on rigging
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Stamp Type:
Stamp Details:
1st Rainbows
56p Brownies
81p Guides
90p Senior Section
Producer/Series:   ( Royal Mint/Royal Mail joint issue No 78 )
Postmark:
London SW1, 100 Years, Special Handstamp
Stock remaining: One Left!
Reference Images:
Miniature Sheet
Presentation Pack (436)
PHQCards (331)
Postmark illustrations
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Royal Mail provided background information for this issue
click on titles to view details.

Reason and inspiration

Boys will be boys – but what about the girls? That’s exactly what a small group calling themselves Girl Scouts demanded when they turned up at the first ever Boy Scouts rally at Crystal Palace in 1909.

Fortunately the Boy Scouts’ founder, Robert Baden-Powell, already had something similar in mind for girls, and a year later their wish was granted when he formed the Girl Guides.

2010 marks the centenary of the guiding movement and to celebrate this important anniversary Royal Mail has worked with Girlguiding UK to produce a miniature sheet highlighting the four age-group categories of the organisation with just some of the activities they undertake.

Stamp design and background

For this Miniature Sheet the emphasis was firmly on ‘fun’, with each of the stamps designed to bring out the sheer enjoyment of being part of the Guides, and displaying some of the many activities enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of girls around the UK.

As part of the research process Royal Mail’s design team met with girls from all four sections of the organisation from Rainbows through to the Senior Section.

The evening was a great success and the thoughts and opinions canvassed from the girls did help to inform the final design decisions.

Their input led designers Together Design to create a collage effect for each stamp, and to capture the energy and immediacy of real Guiding, actual members were photographed from each age group.

Stamp by stamp

1st Class – Rainbows

Rainbows are aged from five to seven (four to seven in Northern Ireland).

56p – Brownies

Brownies are aged from seven to ten.

81p – Guides

Guides are aged from ten to 14.

90p – Senior Section

Members of the Senior Section are aged from 14 to 25.

Product portfolio

Presentation Pack No. 436

The fully illustrated Presentation Pack contains the Miniature Sheet. Inside Neil Young looks at the movement’s history and present day activities. The pack was designed by Together Design and printed by Walsall Security Printers.

Stamp Cards

Five postcards bearing enlarged images of each of the Girlguiding UK stamps and the Miniature Sheet go on sale about a week before the stamp issue date.

Miniature Sheet – Technical Details:

Feature Type/Detail
Number of stamps Four
Size of Sheet 190mm(w) x 67mm(h)
Design Together Design
Photography Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Senior Section members photographed by Laura Ashman;
Acknowledgements Kite, cupcake, pencils, paint splats, photo edge and water drops © iStockphoto; map © Location Maps Limited; all other images © Getty Images
Stamp format Landscape
Stamp size 37mm x 35mm
Printer Cartor Security Printing, Meaucé, France
Print process Lithography
Number per sheet 4
Perforations 14 x 14.5
Phosphor All over
Gum PVA
Text © reproduced with the permission of Royal Mail Group Ltd. All rights reserved.