Worcestershire Medal Service Ltd

By Appointment to
Her Majesty The Queen
Medallists’
Worcestershire Medal Service Ltd
Newsletter Issue 4 December 2010
Christmas Holidays
The Most Venerable Order of The Hospital of St John
We are delighted to announce that at a recent meeting of the Order Honours and Awards
Committee, Worcestershire Medal Service have been approved as a supplier of insignia
worldwide to the Order.
The complete range of insignia will be produced from Grand Cross through to Serving
Brother / Sister and including the Service Medal and Lifesaving medals.
Following this approval we are investing in
A new St John brochure is currently in production and will be available in the New Year,
we shall be taking enquires via a dedicated email address stjohn@worcmedals.com.
Please email to register for a brochure to be sent as soon as they are available.
Please note that individuals requesting insignia will be requested to provide proof of
entitlement from their Priory or establishment.
We shall be closing at lunchtime on
Thursday 23 rd December and returning
on 4 th January at 08.30.
During our closed period you will still
be able to purchase on-line and we
shall be checking email at irregular
periods during the holiday as well so
please still send any enquiries this way.
Thank you to all our Customers for their
custom throughout the year and we
will you all a very happy Christmas and
a prosperous New Year.
New Format
As you will have noticed our newsletter
has a new format. A number of people
had problems with our old newsletter
system due to the way Microsoft Office
2007 handled the format of the
emailed newsletters. If you have any
comments on the format or content we
would be pleased to hear from you

New Products
The following items are now in stock and available for delivery, they may
be ordered on-line or call us on 01527 835375
NATO Anti piracy medal
We have produced the latest NATO medal with clasp AFRICA. This is available in
full size and miniature. Please note that this award has not been authorised for
wear by UK service personnel at this time.
The medal has the same ribbon as the NATO ISAF Medal.
OMAN 40 th Anniversary Medal
We now have in stock the ribbon for this medal in full size and miniature. The
full size medal was issued with the miniature and at this moment we have no
plans to produce either of the medals.
Miniature Navy LSGC – King George V
Following a number of requests we have now produced this medal in miniature
with the Admirals bust of King George V to compliment the full size already
available from us.
Pre First World War Medals
The number of the medals we now manufacture for this period continues to
expand. We are always prepared to consider new items to complete the range.
Please note these are extremely high quality products, die-struck with
suspension that swivel, where the original did and are made especially to your
individual order. We do not, and will not, manufacture these in sterling silver as
they could easily be mistaken for the genuine item.
Wearing your awards
October and November are always very
busy months and it is no surprise that
this is the time when we receive the
most queries around the wearing of
medals.
Order of Wear
There are strict guidelines on the order
of wear of medals and these are laid
down by the Cabinet Office and
published in the London Gazette from
time to time. The latest list can be
downloaded free of charge from the
information section of our website.
Ancestors Medals
It has become custom and practice
since the end of the First World War to
wear medals belonging to sons /
husbands etc on the right side. There is
no authority for this and strictly
speaking they should not be worn at all.
Commemorative Medals
These medals, no matter who they
support, are NOT allowed to be worn
alongside official awards. Again the
custom has been to wear these below
any official awards. This applies to
miniatures as well.
They must never be worn in uniform.
Foreign Awards
Unless specifically authorised by Her
Majesty The Queen then awards from
non-Commonwealth countries should
not be worn alongside UK awards.

Bespoke Jewellery
A reminder that we manufacture
jewellery to order, this can be in silver
or gold and incorporate stones as
required. The cufflinks opposite are
silver with 9ct gold badges set with a
small diamond.
The brooch below is a 9ct gold
parachute Regiment Brooch with a
white gold parachute set on the centre.
Other News
Both of these items were custom made
for individual Customers.
Royal Award
Her Majesty The Queen bestowed the
title Royal on the Army Physical Training
Corps. This was announced during the
festival of remembrance and takes
effect from November 13 th 2010.
Honouring Bravery
Lord Ashcroft’s collection of Victoria
Crosses has now gone on show at the
Imperial War Museum alongside their
own VC and GC groups. The largest
collection of VC’s ever formed it has
now gone on show to the nation and is
well worth a visit to the IWM.
We are seeing a large number of medals
being awarded for acts of tremendous
courage in the operations in
Afghanistan. Recipients of these should
be aware of the high value of the
original medals and contact us for
details on sterling silver replicas. Please
note that sterling silver replicas are only
available to verified recipients.
The gallantry medallists League is
always welcoming new members, why
not look at www.gm-league.com
Commemorative Medals – price
increase
Please note that some commemorative
medals will increase in price from 1 st
January 2011, this mainly affects those
manufactured in silver which has
increased significantly in price.
New Rank for the RAF Regiment
The rank of Lance Corporal has now
been introduced into the RAF Regiment
to bridge the gap between SAC (Senior
Aircraftsman) and Corporal. This has
largely been due to Ops HERRICK and
TELIC which highlighted the role of RAF
Regiment SAC’s as commanders of small
combat teams.
Prison Service Medal
Following a long fought campaign Her
Majesty The Queen has signed a Royal
Warrant to institute the Prison Service
medal. The first awards are expected to
be made by the end of this year and we
shall produce the miniature as soon as
we have confirmed the design.
The medal is awarded for 20 years
service but it is not understood if or
when it is being backdated to.
New Years Honours
Call us or email us with ideas you would
like to see and we will tailor a personal
quote for you.
A WFR Silver and gold brooch.
As we approach the New Years Honours list we would like to remind all our readers that we
can provide miniatures of the State Honours from stock. We also undertake manufacture of
bespoke miniatures using precious metals.
Remember – as soon as the Gazette is published you may wear the miniature medal, any
recipients of Honours who wear uniforms with ribbon bars are required to put the
appropriate ribbon on as soon as possible after announcement. There is no need to wait until
actual investiture.
For those of you who do receive something in this Honours list we hope you will consider
sending your medals to us to mount them all together. Don’t forget that returning customers
receive a discount of 10% if we have mounted your medals before.

WW1 Research
Our staff will endeavor to trace WW1
medal entitlement for your relatives,
please note that we need as much
information as possible. There is no
charge for this service if you are buying
replacement medals from us.
If you are not looking to purchase
medals then we will make a charge of
£5 to undertake the searches, where
little information is known we will be
pleased to quote to search for you.
Money Matters!
January increase in Tax
A reminder that VAT increases to 20% from 1 st January for EU Customers, Our web site
will be amended over the holiday period.
Newsletter
Issue 04 Dec 2010
Price Increases - No
With the exception of the Commemorative medals mentioned earlier in this newsletter,
we are again holding our prices until further notice.
We realise that with cuts being imposed to recover our economy and resolve the deficit
issue, people have to watch costs. The VAT increase, is an increase we can do nothing
about I’m afraid but we hope to run some promotions in the New Year to help with this.
Some medals will reduce slightly, as once again we move production to our own factory of
items we currently purchase from other sources.
Promotions
It is our intention to run internet promotions during the coming year, we shall send a brief
description of the promotion and a code to all those subscribed to our newsletter which
will allow special offers to orders placed on-line.
WORCESTERSHIRE MEDAL SERVICE LTD
56 Broad Street
Sidemoor
Bromsgrove
B61 8LL
Tel: 01527 835375
Fax: 01527 576798
Email: sales@worcmedals.com
Web: www.worcmedals.com