Who chose the Christmas stamps?

NannyC1

Well I'm very happy the Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool was chosen, my grandfather helped build it,before and after WW2. It may have been chosen as it's apparently the longest cathedral in the world!

I used to play in the Cathedral grounds as a child...stunning place and we have two!

Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King

Anyway, a thread with over 100 comments can't be bad. And we learned something too!
To those who think I'm about to throw myself into the Cornish sea over the stamps, no worries, I'm not that angry. No drama llama! To those who felt I was causing offence, sorry but seriously
that was not my intention. Far from! To those who contributed, thanks! Enjoy your Christmas card sending by Royal Mail.

Elegran

^"Liverpool - I guess it will have to be that."^ Can you choose which ones you buy? I would have thought each of us gets a sheet of mixed images. that means that three out of four of the stamps will go to people who have no connection with the cathedral shown or the country in which it is situated, and that is without considering the people whose religion is of a different denomination or faith. That is in keeping with the spirit of Christmas, and the sentiment "Goodwill to all men" (and of course all women, who are the main buyers and senders of Christmas cards and stamps)

Each cathedral has a different denomination. The one most of us will use for cards - second class - is the Edinburgh one. It would have been nice to have a selection on one sheet, though, I agree!

www.bbc.com/newsround/articles/cm2761e0052o

JudyBloom

There are so many cathedrals in the United Kingdom, but at least the Christmas stamps depict Christianity which is what Christmas is, I rather like them.

I agree. We have so many historical and beautiful cathedrals in the UK. We are very lucky.
I have listened to DH perform in most of them, though not the ones on the stamps. Probably hence my disappointment over the stamps!

I agree with you JudyBloom re the "spirit" but I'm not so happy with the actual artwork.

"Liverpool - I guess it will have to be that." Can you choose which ones you buy? I would have thought each of us gets a sheet of mixed images. that means that three out of four of the stamps will go to people who have no connection with the cathedral shown or the country in which it is situated, and that is without considering the people whose religion is of a different denomination or faith. That is in keeping with the spirit of Christmas, and the sentiment "Goodwill to all men" (and of course all women, who are the main buyers and senders of Christmas cards and stamps)

There are so many cathedrals in the United Kingdom, but at least the Christmas stamps depict Christianity which is what Christmas is, I rather like them.

Thanks for the information. I didn't know that about St Giles

I am not religious but love the architecture of these buildings. Of course ALL the home nations should be represented.

escaped

Not happy.
In a kingdom of great cathedrals, I'm not very impressed with the choice of Christmas stamps depicting various cathedrals.
Edinburgh - I'm not Scottish, I don't live there
Armagh - I'm not Irish, I don't live there either
Bangor - I'm not Welsh, I don't live there
Westminster - I'm a Londoner, but NOT Roman Catholic
Liverpool - I guess it will have to be that.

Where's Salisbury, Durham, Gloucester, Exeter, Canterbury, York?

So all the English cathedrals, then? Do the other countries of the UK not want to post the occasional letter or card at Christmas?

What a lot of fuss over nothing!


Christmas stamps are never perfect in my opinion but goodness, I really don't understand the problem.

If someone who is bothered can contact the committee who made the decision with their problem, maybe they'd get somewhere?

I have found out
Who chose the Christmas stamps? which was the original question so any other issues I think we can't really answer here...

I love the idea of cathedrals representing the whole of the UK, but whoever chose them hasn't really picked the most alluring (and they have to be that, given the price!). I'm a Londoner but Westminster Cathedral? St. Paul's, surely, if London is to be represented.

I like those stamps. 🎄🙂

Both beautiful buildings.

escaped

Wheniwasyourage

escaped, you might feel better about the stamp showing a cathedral in Edinburgh if you realise that it isn't St Giles - Church of Scotland - but St Mary's - Scottish Episcopal Church, which is part of the Anglican communion!

So, is St. Giles no longer a cathedral? Something tells me it doesn't have a Bishop but a Minister, so can't be called a cathedral?
I'm happy to be corrected by anyone North of the border.

If you want to get technical about it, in the strictest sense, no St Giles is not a cathedral, as the Church of Scotland does not have cathedrals, nor bishops. It's actually the High Kirk of Edinburgh, although it did have cathedral status at one point in its long and illustrious history and, like Glasgow and Dunblane Cathedrals, the name remains.

Wheniwasyourage

*escaped*, you might feel better about the stamp showing a cathedral in Edinburgh if you realise that it isn't St Giles - Church of Scotland - but St Mary's - Scottish Episcopal Church, which is part of the Anglican communion!

So, is St. Giles no longer a cathedral? Something tells me it doesn't have a Bishop but a Minister, so can't be called a cathedral?
I'm happy to be corrected by anyone North of the border.

NannyC1

Well I'm very happy the Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool was chosen, my grandfather helped build it,before and after WW2. It may have been chosen as it's apparently the longest cathedral in the world!

I'm glad that you are happy, NannyCI, and how interesting that your grandfather was involved in building it. It is indeed a striking building. It's a pity that they couldn't have the Roman Catholic cathedral in Liverpool too, as it is a very modern version of a cathedral and also striking in a different way.

escaped, you might feel better about the stamp showing a cathedral in Edinburgh if you realise that it isn't St Giles - Church of Scotland - but St Mary's - Scottish Episcopal Church, which is part of the Anglican communion!

escaped

Not happy.
In a kingdom of great cathedrals, I'm not very impressed with the choice of Christmas stamps depicting various cathedrals.
Edinburgh - I'm not Scottish, I don't live there
Armagh - I'm not Irish, I don't live there either
Bangor - I'm not Welsh, I don't live there
Westminster - I'm a Londoner, but NOT Roman Catholic
Liverpool - I guess it will have to be that.

Where's Salisbury, Durham, Gloucester, Exeter, Canterbury, York?

Don't know where you live exactly but it appears to be England somewhere. You appear to be annoyed if not angry that the English Cathedral chosen is of a religion you do not share. I am Scots and Edinburgh (St Giles) is not of the religion I was brought up in. Am I annoyed? - no. It appears there is a Cathedral from Scotland, England, N Ireland and Wales in the stamps images and they aren't horrible Cathedrals. What are they supposed to do? Have a different stamp for each religion for each territory in case just the beautiful building is somehow offensive to an individual person because it isn't the religion they are in themselves? (This would be dozens of different stamps -are the Post Office staff supposed to ask the person their religion so as not to offer them stamps of Cathedrals not of their religion?) Where does it end - the Post Office has to produce stamps of a sea view or a forest because some people don't want to see religious Cathedrals? Good golly gosh.

No. I think the newest one is Guildford. I don't like it.
I'm a bit of an expert in the field.

They just don't build them like that any more ☹

Correct!
Also Pride and Prejudice.

New Vaudeville Band

Oops sorry, I'm away, poor Internet not loading photo. Try again.

If you scroll back to the BBC link (earlier) there is some info about each of the cathedrals BTW.