Royal Mail : launches first ‘special’ parcel postbox in honour of Mother’s Day

With Mother’s Day fast approaching on 22 March, sons and daughters across the UK are making plans to spoil their mothers with gifts in the post. To mark Mother’s Day, Royal Mail has launched its first ‘special’ parcel postbox in Swansea City Centre. Sending Mother’s Day gifts remains a key part of making mothers feel loved and appreciated.

Decked out in floral designs, the special parcel postbox is located on Union Street in Swansea City Centre. It will be decorated for a month before returning to its usual red colour. The postbox will also feature the verse from one of the first Mother’s Day cards sent around 1860.

Royal Mail introduced the UK’s first ever parcel postboxes in locations across the country, last year. The parcel postboxes mark the first major repurposing of the postbox in the last 160 years. The launch of parcel postboxes is also one of the biggest innovations in parcels since the launch of Parcel Post in 1883.

The parcel postboxes enable pre-paid* parcels to be posted through securely designed parcel postboxes, in the same way letters are posted.

Mark Street, Head of Campaigns for Royal Mail, said ‘As families become more dispersed, many of us live some distance from our mothers. If you can’t be there to spoil her in person this year, make your feelings known with a gift in the post. At Royal Mail, we play a key role in delivering cards and presents for Mother’s Day across the UK. While doing so, we always enjoy adding a little extra joy to sending Mother’s Day gifts in the post.’

The origins of celebrating mothers

The Mother’s Day that we know and love today in fact has an intriguing history that stretches back centuries, and originally bore no relation to mothers at all.

In the sixteenth century, returning to your home or ‘mother’ church, was an important annual occasion. Each year, children who left home at a young age to work as domestic servants or apprentices were allowed a day off in the middle of lent to visit their mother church.

This became an important occasion for rare family reunions. Children returning home might bring a bunch of handpicked flowers to give to their mother. Home-baked Simnel cakes, a type of fruit cake topped with marzipan, could also be brought as gifts, as the Lenten fasting rules were relaxed for the day (so mums need not feel guilty about enjoying their treats).

The roots of Mothering Sunday in this country are unrelated to the American Mother’s Day celebration which falls in May. But we do owe the US for the modern revival of paying tribute to our mums.

The modern version of Mother’s Day took root in the US when Anna Jarvis formed a campaign to celebrate motherhood, following the death of her own mother in 1905. This led to the US celebration being established in 1914.

In the UK, the evolution of the religious holiday was largely attributed to Constance Smith, daughter of an Anglican clergyman living in Nottingham. She had read about Jarvis’ campaign and was inspired to publish a pamphlet entitled The Revival of Mothering Sunday. This resurgence of Mother’s Day was amplified by the First World War, when many mothers lost their sons.

Mother’s Day cards become popular

It was around this point that the widespread commercial phenomenon of Mother’s Day cards began. However, more unique examples of cards to mothers can be found from much earlier.

The below card, dating to around 1860 and held by The Postal Museum, is gilt-embossed and decorated with fabric and floral pieces. A verse on the card reads:

Dearest one, who gave me birth,

And sweetest love doth always show,

Bright be thy pathway upon earth,

A stranger here to woe.

May every day with roseate hue

Yield all its stores of sweets for you

ENDS