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| In 1971 we changed from
the old pounds, shillings and pence to pounds
and new pence. Many people found the changeover
difficult. Some had decided it would be difficult,
others were against the change for various
reasons. The two sets of coins are shown below. |
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| On top of
a one pound note are: |
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| A half-crown
(2/6d), a two shilling piece (2/-),
a shilling (1/-), a sixpence (6d),
a penny (1d) and a threepenny
bit (3d) (old money) |
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| A fifty pence
piece (50p), a ten pence piece
(10p), a five pence piece (5p),
a two pence piece (2p), a penny
(1p) and half penny (½p)
(new money) |
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| The word 'NEW'
would later be dropped from the
coins and the silver ones reduced
in size. |
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| The pound
note would soon be redesigned
and a bit later replaced by a
coin. |
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| A currency
converter from 1971. |
| Amounts are
rounded to exact coins, for instance
1p = 2.4d but is shown as 2.5d |
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| The first
decimal coin was the florin, or
two shillings, introduced way
back in 1849. In 1965 the decision
was taken to change the currency
completely. The farthing had been
withdrawn in 1960. In 1968 five
and ten pence coins were introduced
to replace the shilling and two
shillings. In 1969 the ten shilling
note was replaced by a fifty pence
coin and the old halfpenny was
withdrawn. 1970 saw the withdrawal
of the half-crown. |
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| The bronze
two pence, one penny and half
penny entered circulation in 1971
when the old threepence and penny
ceased to be legal tender. The
old sixpence was kept until about
1980 and used as a two-and-a-half
pence coin. We had samples of
the new coins a few weeks before
the change so that we could practise
handling them. |
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| We had to
work for one week using both currencies
side by side which was very confusing
for the passengers and by the
Saturday evening we were all running
very short of change. We also
had to watch out for people trying
to use old halfpennies as two
pence pieces. |
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| The new half
penny and the old sixpence were
withdrawn around 1980. In 1982
a twenty pence coin was introduced
and in 1983 the pound note was
replaced by a coin. A smaller
version of the five pence piece
arrived in 1990 followed by a
smaller ten pence in 1992. In
1998 the fifty pence was also
replaced by a smaller version
and a two pound coin introduced. |
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