November 2nd
Three members from the Amersham Philatelic
Society brought along items from their collections
to entertain us and the first to show was Maurice
Taylor with a display of Madeira. to introduce us
to the subject Maurice gave us a brief history of
the Island from 1419 when it was discovered to the
introduction of postage stamps which were
Portuguese overprints and unusually not allowed
for postage in Portugal Other items on display
were Bi-sects, Postal stationery Various early
mail which included a wide variety of post between
the Island and Britain connected to the wine trade
with letter cards from 1875.
After the break Tony Bridger gave a display of
T.B. No, not Tony Bridger but Tuberculosis. Tony's
display gave rise to a good deal of audience
debate bought about by the recent increase in
victims of this dreadful disease,
In 1902 the first convention took place in Berlin
to try and combat the disease and it was decided
to use the Cross of Lorain as the charities symbol
which was to appear on many issues of stamps from
around the world. The first of which were the New
Zealand health stamps of 1926 which displayed the
Cross and were issued solely for raising funds for
TB and were the beginning of a series of Health
stamps from this country. Another country to
support the cause was Belgium. In bringing the
problem to the attention of the people it did much
to halt the spread of the disease.
The third speaker was Alan Williams. Alan gave us
a brief history of the Island from its discovery
to the wiping out of it's natural inhabitants by
slavery and newly introduced infections, to the
present day, through early straight line hand
stamps and a cover from 1764 showing a rare type 3
hand stamp. It took the letter 61 days to reach
London from Jamaica. Some rare Albino hand stamps
and stamps with the 1860 Pineapple watermark other
changes to include 1883 crown watermark and the
1889 key plate issues.
The Chairman thanked all speakers for a superb
evening of displays and all present applauded
their efforts.
October 5th
Members of the Cambridge society visited with a
variety of displays to interest the members.
September 7th
The first meeting of the new season and members
brought along items to sell, exchange and enter
into the mini auction which saw some brisk biding
from enthusiastic members not wishing to miss out
on a bargain.
June 1st
The AGM saw all officers re-instated, There was
much discussion over the refurbishment of the
Church hall and the effects it might have over
future bookings, but it was eventually agreed to
stay at the hall and see what happens,
After the break 11 members showed items from their
collections which resulted in a late finish for
our last meeting of the season. the next meeting
will be on September 7th 2006
May 11th
Leighton Buzzard were the hosts for this years
Inter-club quiz, The visiting teams came from
Milton Keynes, Bedford and Luton. After four
rounds Bedford seemed to be heading for a clear
victory but the picture quiz saw Leighton Buzzard
just one point away from a win, In the end Bedford
were the winners by just one point from Leighton
Buzzard with Luton third and Milton Keynes fourth,
thanks were extended to Alan Crozier for setting
the Questions, and to the ladies who arranged the
superb Buffet.
April 6th
A visit and display from the members of the
Milton Keynes Philatelic Society included Sid
Geary with part of his collection of Switzerland,
Jim Scannel with a History of foreign Post Offices
in Levant, Gwynne Hughes collection on the theme
of Agriculture, and lastly Brian Allcock with
Civilian Censors of Aden.
March 29th
Three members from our Society traveled to Milton
Keynes with displays from their collections which
included, Geoffrey Williams- Burma, Alan Crozier-
Germany, and a display of Falkland Islands
courtesy of John Spencer.
March 2nd
Around 200 lots went under the hammer with many
lots being sold at well over reserve, We were
pleased to welcome guests from other societies who
came along to share the bargains.
February 2nd
A well attended meeting with 15 entries in the
main competition and 7 entries in the "six best
sheets" section. winners were as follows.
General Philately: John Spencer:
Falkland Island Dependencies first definitive
issue Best in Show.
Postal History: Geoffrey Williams
Belgian Railway parcel post cancellations
Thematic: June Williams:
Name that Rose
My Six Best Sheets: James Norris
Victorian Perfins
Our Judge as usual was Alan Griffiths, who last
year was awarded the ABPS congress medal for
services to Philately, a well deserved honor.
Again he found a great improvement on past years
with all entries scoring highly.
January
Our annual Social was well attended and an
evening of Quizzes competitions and our quirky
"pass the parcel" was rewarded with everyone going
home with a prize and a smile. As usual we were
joined by our friends from the Milton Keynes
Society.
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