Firm sets shining example with £7m contract for royal medals

Worcestershire Medal Services (WMS) beat international competition and the Royal Mint to be awarded the £7m contract.

Some 450,000 official Diamond Jubilee medals are to be made in Birmingham’s and mounted at the company’s Bromsgrove factory.

They will be worn by members of the armed forces, emergency service workers and prison staff, among others, to mark the event, which will see a range of celebrations in June.

WMS managing director Phil McDermott said: ““The medals were made in Britain, and that’s a fabulous story. Britain still has manufacturing but we’ve been focusing too much on services. We’re seeing more and more people now wanting to come back.

“The success of winning this contract has meant we’ve had lots more inquiries when, historically, over the last 10 to 15 years, they had been moving out to the Far East.”

The medals are engraved with the Latin words which translate as ‘Elizabeth the Second, by Grace of God, Defender of the Faith’, and will be worn by those who had served a minimum of five years at the point of accession on February 6.