What a great way to celebrate Christmas - put Liverpool on a stamp!
Updated: Jan 3
Some of you will know that I live in St Helens, a town near Liverpool.
Liverpool has been an important part of my life. I love the place. I have watched football there (Everton, not Liverpool!). I have played cricket in Liverpool. I go to the Young Archaeologists' Club at the Museum of Liverpool. The city is a great place to go shopping, and my sister and I love going to the different museums. The best is the World Museum! One place I really like is the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, which I've been to many times.
When I saw this year's Christmas stamps I was surprised to see that the 1st class stamp had a picture of Liverpool Anglican Cathedral (like Premier League football clubs, there are two cathedrals in Liverpool). Obviously the people at Royal Mail also think that the Anglican Cathedral is a first class place and it is great to see it on a stamp. I like the picture, which I think is a painting of the cathedral in the snow with people walking by and children building a snowman. I've never seen the cathedral on a snowy day but I imagine it would look like this.
The other stamps also have pictures of cathedrals in the snow. I think this is a really good idea because sometimes Christmas stamps have religious themes and sometimes they don't. Some people like the religious stamps but not everyone. Well, this is a way to keep everyone happy! It has the cathedrals which are wonderful historical places of worship, but they also show people enjoying Christmas in non-religious ways - like making snowmen. And of course there will be people living in these cities with beautiful cathedrals that will be proud to own a beautiful stamp showing their city.
I am very pleased that Liverpool isn't just on a stamp but is on the 1st class stamp. it's a great place and especially at Christmas time.
But what about the other cathedrals?
Most of the stamps I have collected from our mail have been 2nd class stamps. These have a picture of another cathedral I have been to - St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Edinburgh. Like Liverpool, Edinburgh has two Cathedrals and both are called St Mary's just to confuse everyone. I'm not sure there is that much space outside the cathedral for all the people to be enjoying the snow, but it's a nice wintery scene.
The 1st class Large stamp shows Bangor Cathedral. This is the one in Wales and not the abbey in Bangor, Northern Ireland, which I have visited. St Patrick's Roman Catholic Cathedral in Armagh is on the 2nd class Large stamp. The £2.80 stamp has a picture of Westminster Cathedral - not to be confused with Westminster Abbey. This is also a Roman Catholic cathedral, which means that not only do the stamps represent all four countries in the UK but also have both Anglican and Catholic cathedrals. Very inclusive!
I think this is the reason Royal Mail chose the cathedrals and cities they did. They wanted to have a stamp for Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland, and I think also one for London. They work very well. There are some other cathedrals that would look good on stamps like Salisbury, Ely or York Minster but I can see why they have gone for these.
I am sure people who live in Edinburgh, Armagh and Bangor will feel as proud as I do about their city being pictured on a Christmas stamp. I feel this is a very good set of stamps and I hope people have enjoyed getting them on the Christmas mail.
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