Fire and light

48 stamps forming the Millennium Collection

In 2000 the Royal Mail will issue 48 stamps forming the Millennium Collection. Each month four new stamps will be released. Unlike last year, photographs are used for this year's stamps.
The second issue "Fire and light" consists of stamps five to eight of the collection.

Beacons across the land

This 19p stamp features Britain's official national celebration of the Millennium. As the sun goes down on the old millennium on December 31 1999, a chain of beacons and firework displays were lit across the UK.
After eight hours the final beacons were lit in the UK's four capital cities to herald the year 2000.
While the beacons were burning, a series of fundraising activities took place with emphasis on children, older people, the disabled, cancer sufferers and the environment.
The stamp features a specially commissioned photograph taken by Andreas Heumann.

Rheilffordd Eeyri/Snowdonia

The 26p stamp features The Welsh Highland Railway project which is involved in restoring and running the 1930s railway running from Caernarfon through Porthmadog. The stamp shows an image taken by documentary and advertising photographer George Kavanagh.

Dynamic earth/Edinburgh

Dynamic Earth (44p) is a spectacular project situated in Edinburgh's Old Town beside Holyroodhouse. It tells the story of our planet from the Big Bang right up to the present day and, in the process, allows visitors to travel through every environment on earth, to be shaken by earthquakes and even experience a tropical rainstorm.
The stamp design is a photograph by The Image Bank/ A Z Marana.

Lightning Croydon's skyline

The fourth stamp in this series features a spectacular lighting scheme by an architectural exhibition in 1993. The aim behind it was to revitalise and transform public perception of Croydon, with a plan to install lighting schemes in nearly 40 buildings bringing the Surrey town's skyline to life in a myriad of iridescent colours.
The stamp design is a photography by David Montgomery.

Technical details

Size: 37 x 35mm.
Perforation: 14.5 x 14.
Print: Gravure by De La Rue Security Print.

First day stamps

The first day cover and filler card were designed by Turner Duckworth. There will be two special handstamps, one for the British Philatelic Bureau and one for Edinburgh, home of the Dynamic Earth Centre.

More information

Stamps United Kingdom
Postage Stamps 2000