Golden Postboxes

Ben Ainslie 

Sarah: One of the most contentious gold postboxes for Ben Ainslie. This original postbox is on the side of the Pandora Inn in Restronguet, and a second 'unofficial' one was painted by people in Lymington. After some months of debate, Royal Mail decided to also make the second box official.  

Helen Glover 

Sarah: On a recent holiday to Cornwall, I stumbled across Helen Glover's lopsided gold postbox in Penzance. The box marks her gold-winning row in the women's pairs. 

Stratford City
Ellie: Wandering through my new home town, I came across this little double. After racking my brain I couldn't work out which athlete it was commemorating and so took to the internet. 
It is painted gold to commemorate the games as a whole and celebrate the pride and success of 2012.

Alex Gregory
Sarah: We broke up a crazy 8.5 hour drive to Wales for New Year with a stop-off at Alex Gregory's postbox in Cheltenham; awarded for his gold in the Men's Four Rowing.

Ellie Simmonds
Ellie: Our third and final Golden Postbox of the weekend belongs to Ellie Simmonds and we found it in Aldridge. Ellie won Gold in the Women's 400m Freestyle S6 event. This is a special postbox for us as we were able to see some Paralympic swimming trials during the London games. (Also she clearly has a great first name which is why I am so happy!)

Philip Hindes

Sarah: Outside Manchester town hall, just after midnight, we found Philip Hindes gold postbox; painted for his performance in the Men's Cycling Team Sprint. We were still aching from our ride in the velodrome earlier that day, though the cocktails had definitely helped!  

Sarah Storey 
Sarah: We dragged three friends away for a weekend in Manchester to tackle the Velodrome and BMX track, and happily bumped into some cycling-related Gold Postboxes along the way. This one is in Eccles for Dame Sarah Storey's gold in the Road Cycling; Women's C5 Time Trial.   

Sophie Wells 
Ellie: The Royal Mail have a very dark sense of humour. This beautiful postbox is up the steepest hill I've ever had the 'pleasure' to walk up. This hill is called Steep Hill and is in Lincoln and by putting Wells' postbox at the top, the Royal Mail are submitting lots of non-Olympians to some hefty exercise! Sophie Wells won her gold medal in the Team Equestrian events at the Paralympics in 2012 - I wonder if she's allowed to ride her horse up the hill? 

Laura Trott
Sarah: The second of Laura Trott's collection of postboxes, also in Chestnut. This one is for her gold-winning ride in the Team Pursuit.

Laura Trott 
Sarah: This is the wonderfully box-like postbox in Chestnut celebrating Laura Trott's gold in the Omnium. She has three postboxes in total, and I like the plaque on the side of this one.

 Mo Farah 
Sarah: We were in Teddington on the way to Hampton pool as part of our annual Lido Day (where we swim in as many lidos as possible in one day), so thought it would be rude not to swing by Mo's postbox. It celebrates his 5,000m gold medal and is especially shiny.

Chris Hoy
Ellie: Another weekend in sunny Edinburgh gives us the last of Sir Chris Hoy's golden postboxes. This one in Hunter Square is for his gold medal in the Men's Keirin event.

Mark Colbourne
Sarah: A trip to find Mark Colbourne's postbox in Tredegar was a nice destination following a beautiful drive through the Brecon Beacons. Mark won his Gold in the C1 3km Individual Pursuit, breaking the world record in both the qualifying round and the final.

Josie Pearson
Sarah: I spent the weekend at our friend Clare's house in Hay on Wye, and made sure I papped Josie Pearson's postbox. I ended up running past it about five times the morning of this picture in an attempt to use up five miles in a run around Hay! Josie won her Gold in the Discus at the Paralympics, and broke the world record along the way. That's Elaine in the background; responsible for Geraint Thomas' postbox snap below.

Chris Hoy
  Ellie: I recently spent the weekend in Edinburgh. I turned a corner and there was Sir Chris Hoy's golden postbox... and here I am looking suitably excited about the whole situation. Clearly the enormity of our project hadn't hit home!

Geraint Thomas
 Ellie: Our good friend and soon to be collaborator, Elaine (@elaineleppz), recently visited Cardiff where she found and photographed us the golden postbox for Geraint Thomas - the Men's Team Pursuit gold medalist. They do look cute!