Reports on Club Meetings

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Monday 23 April
Petersfield & District P S visit us

Two eloquent members of the Petersfield & District Philatelic Society entertained our large gathering of members this evening.  Using a wealth of unique photographic and postcard material, Robin Pizer started the evening on the unlikely subject of German Exchange Controls.  From 15 November 1918, as the War was over, the German Censor Offices were no longer required and so were closed and then immediately re-opened as Exchange Control Offices to protect the country form the influx or export by mail of items of value. He traced the establishment of the procedures and documents, including temporary and permanent labels for use by the Offices to regulate all mail going into or out of Germany, and the procedures to be followed for irregularities, bulk and express mail, mail transiting the country, the forms to be completed listing prohibited items found, and of course examples of errors and omissions in the process.  Letters returned to sender, with all sorts of markings, examples of licences for mail transit, and confiscated mail were all exhibited.  Where did he find all this material? One member being heard to comment “I have never seen so many ‘only one known example’ in any presentation before!”.
The second half was split into two sections, the first being about the photographer and postcard maker John William Righton from Yorkshire, born in 1857.  The story was told by Tom Moorgate, and centred on the Methodist Publishing House records.  After his teacher training, he left his young family and went to teach in a Methodist school in Gibraltar, but after the premature death of his wife in 1893, he returned to England, spent three months in Leeds training as a photographer, and then moved with his family to Newbury where he took over and developed a photographic business, concentrating on portraiture and the many country houses in the area. A collection of his photographs from the 1890s and 1900s was rescued by Lady Carnarvon of Highclere Castle from a sale in Crewkerne, which filled a gap in the history of the Castle and its inhabitants.  He gained notoriety from that and through advertising his work built a substantial business. In 1893 he was a pioneer in the production of postcards, invented the previous year.  Tom showed examples of much of this work, which Club members found fascinating.  Several Series of cards were produced, such as the National Childrens Homes around the country and the Methodist Conferences, which after his death in 1821, have produced commemorative cards and cachets featuring him. 
A second topic was then introduced, this being of Gospel Carts, introduced by the Wesleyans to take religion back to rural communities at the beginning of the last century, at a time when so many countryfolk were leaving for the cities.  He showed many examples of different carts used, some correspondence, and some of the ministers who were involved, as well as their training school, Cliff House in Calver, Yorkshire.  This was a topic never covered at Ferndown before.
Bob Small, Chairman gave the vote of thanks, as well as the certificates and awards to the two speakers who received a long round of appreciative applause.

Letter taken by hand for Inspection	Letter with postal clerk's sealed inspection strip	Letter taken to the public examination counter 23/4/1920	letter with misprinted seal of 1818 instead of 1918
Extral large cancellation, used during only one shiftin 1922	Example of letter sent for confiscation	Example of Internal mail inspected in error	Example of Transit mail inspected in error
The only photograph of a Weslyan chapel, dated 1812	A local scene with "Righton Newbury" printed on it	Buckleberry School postcard by Righton	Postcard showing the Library at Cliff House, Calver

Wesleyan Gospel Car no 14 "Emmanuel" near Birmingham about 1905	Reconstructed Gospel Car, made in Petersfield in 2012	Postally used postcard depicting a Gospel Cart

(chris wheeler)

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Saturday 14 April
42nd ANNUAL FAIR and INTERCLUB COMPETITION

As expected, the Fair was not only a great success, but very busy during the early morning. Judging of the exhibits and display of the 274 auction lots started early, so that those attending could have the opportunity to see these displays as soon as possible.

View of some of the Competition Entries, and some of the Auction Lots

The Results of the Competition

Afternoon Activity in the Main Hall

Bernard Paull accepting the Shield on behalf of the winning Club - Bridport	Mike Trickett accepting the Trophy on behalf of Wendy Buckle, overal winner of this year's competitiuon with "Latvia Postage Dues"

chris wheeler

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Monday 9 April, 2018
9 in 4 - Great Britain and Channel Islands - Members

(Report to follow)

Souvenir Card of Guernsey Liberation	The first day of use of the 2d bisect	1884 redirected cover to Bombay, from Bournemouth with the B60 cancellation
Great Northern Railway, first printing of letter post stamp, 1906	10 x 1d reds on newspaper wrapper to Sydney	Prisoner of War Post, card from Bournemouth to Changi Camp

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Monday 26th March
"Transatlantic Mail 1775-1875" - Julian Jones FRPSL

(Report to follow)

Ship letter to Baltimore via New York, from Liverpool, 1784	Wrapper from Poughkeepsie to Portsmouth via London, 1775	Triple rate entire 39½, London to Philadelphia, 1910
Consular letter from New York, via Boston and Liverpool to Leeds carried by Cunard, 1844	Charing Cross packet with six stamps, to Philadelphia, 1846	Postcard from Boston to Oxford, via New York and Queenstown, on the "Wyoming", at the letter rate, under the 1873-1875 Treaty
Double letter from Southampton to Norton MA, via Liverpool and Boston on Cunard's "America"	Cover with markings on the front and rear from New Orleans to Worcester, 1813	Cover with Late Fee paid at the Floating Receipt House from Liverpool to Boston, on Cunard's "Asia", with 2/-Treaty Rate and 1/- Late Fee

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Monday 12th March - Competition Evening

There were twelve entries across the five Classes this evening, our two resident Judges being welcomed by the Competitions Secretary, Mike Trickett, who guided and processed the submission, judging and announcement of the result process most competently. Descriptions of the entries and details of the results will be in the report of the AGM later in the year.

As can be seen from the above, the Overal Winner this year was Wendy Buckle with her Open Class entry "Leipaja - Latvia's Second City".

In addition there was a One Page Competition, run by Albert Jackson, judged by members, with 18 entries. This resulted in a tie of three entrants, which was resolved by a show of hands, the winner also being Wendy Buckle with her entry "Every Picture Tells a Story".

(chris wheeler)

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Monday 26 February, 2018
"Netherlands Pot-pourri" - Peter Hardie

Being a Member of the Netherlands Study Circle, Peter was well placed to share his knowledge of Dutch philately…and what a collection to inform and inspire! Having a Dutch mother and a father employed as a head teacher of a missionary school in Java, we can see where the origins of his study were rooted. Like the GB Victorian Post Office with its obsession with possible fraudulent postal use, the Dutch administration wasted no time in experimenting with cancelling machines, an early one making use of heated dye. Following overheating in flames, further work was undertaken to ensure a successful efficient machine, capable of keeping fraud to a minimum. Peter’s display contained early examples of cancels together with a determined analysis of perfins, highlighted by superb blocks of 4 mint stamps. Fakes were discussed and examples shown to enable comparison. Plates were also part of the study, as were interrupted perforations. Also featuring was an interesting selection of business cards and postage due envelopes, designed to protect the revenue by shielding the message, prior to a payment being made! The display extended up to the 2nd World War where occupation and PoW issues were emphasised. All in all a major study of this unfamiliar philatelic area, which drew rich comments of appreciation from Chairman Bob Small…’an absolutely fascinating and riveting display of early Netherlands’ philatelic material….thank you’.     

Brandstempel cancellation on postcard	Postage due for non-paid postcard in "secret" envelope, 1911	1926 Postcard with Pokus cancellation
Poststemmpel cancellations, towns 243 to 255 with two missing	Dutch Legion Charity stamps on postcard, WWII	Diamond number cancellations on Queen Willhemina first issue stamps

(paul barry)

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Monday 12 February, 2018
6 in 2 - 20th Century Postal History - Members

 A wide spread of topics were covered in the evening’s ‘in house’  entertainment. Hugh Jefferies’ covers putting Russian Estonia on the map were fascinating. Here were to be seen numerous Russian overprinted stamps. Ukraine was also represented by local provisionals, but Hugh could not verify their genuineness. Continuing the mid-European theme, Latvia was well represented. Here, Wendy Buckle explained the beginnings of the 1921 Airmail Service. 1928 saw the service extended to Russia.  Wendy’s superb range of covers represented various flight routes, and all had interesting flight marks. Spence Coker shared cover items from his collection including Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, New Territories, Outlying Islands and Treaty Ports. Some were very scarce covers within the 1910 – 1920 period. A special focus featured a study of branch office cancels. Also considering cancels was John Duckworth...well represented in his contribution of British Solomon Islands…delightful covers. Harry Tabeart provided… Modern Airmails, with John Garrett following on with his well written-up study of individual stamps, printed covers and postmarks from Papua New Guinea. Don Symonds shared his Swiss material, always a good collection, as was David Parsons’ ‘Postal History of the Channel Islands’ and Don Seaby’s UK postcards and covers. Concluding the evening was a superb display from Bob Small entitled- ‘Britain at War’. Members were able to celebrate here, three quality covers from the Boer War period, one being a PoW cover with a Red Cross label.  Further covers were enhanced by ‘Jubilee’ stamps, with destinations including Ladysmith, Belgium and Southsea.   

Bob showed much appreciation and enthusiasm for the evening’s displays by warmly thanking Members taking part.…’great variety again, indeed…a study of quality ….and superb cancels!!’

Cover from Straits Settlements, to Bournemouth in 1941, cancelled by Naval Base in Singapore	1940 Registered censored cover from Malta, with red wax seal intact	Cover from The Gambia with incorrect 3d To Pay, later refunded
1943 FDI Pro Patria cancelled in a mobile post office	First Overseas Commercial Flight cover from USAto London, 1945	Rear of the Cover with Hurn Airport receipt
Solomon Islands Cover with a temporary straight line cancellation	Cover carried on the inaugral flight from Riga to Moscow, 10 August 1928	1898 cancelled stamp on piece from the Imperial Chinese Customs Office, Walled City, Kowloon, Hong Kong

paul barry

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Monday 22 January 2018
"Russia's International Mails" - Charles Leonard

A cold winter’s night, yet the ‘home-grown’ speaker drew a good philatelic crowd; his subject somewhat elusive for many members it would seem. This was again a superb display, made up principally of early 19th century material and extremely notable for its quality of write-up. The rich mixture of maps, commentary both written and verbal, covers, printed stationary, frankings, rates, late fees and official notices to postmasters, were just a flavour of the themes examined. Amongst the areas considered was Charles’ highly detailed study of the early development of Prussian/Russian postal services, in particular - rates, registered mail and postage dues. Around 1854 the first Russian stamps on cover appear and Club Members were much entertained by the inclusion of a number of such early examples. A considerable focus was expended on the far reaching Prussian/Russian Treaty and its postal implications.  Following the first half where no less than 6 frames of 15 sheets were displayed, the evening moved to the equally expansive second half where ‘the mail between GB and Russia’ was studied in detail. Of particular interest was the fact that in the 1850s, mail took 8-10 days to travel GB/St Petersburg. By the 1870s the journey time had reduced to just 3 days and the rate was just 6d!!  
        Here again -a superb presentation organised by Hugh Jefferies whose mastery of the philatelic programme is hard to equal.

Cover from Rotterdam to St Petersberg with red "3" credit from the Netherlands and blue "W1" credit from Prussia to Russia	1872 cover from Odessa to Genoa	Charles Leonard being thanked by Chairman, Bob Small

(paul barry)

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Monday 8 January 2018
6 in 2 - Islands - Members

Following the Chairman's New Year's Greetings, and a reminder to members what "6 in 2" and "9 in 4" meant, thirteen members put up displays on the theme of "Islands", covering an very wide interpretation of the subject, which drew long attention from the members at break time.

Chris Wheeler covered railway stamps from Union Island in the West Indies
Spence Coaker showed covers and a postcard from Hong Kong's many islands
John Duckworth started with the One Pnny stamp from Malta, then covered many other events from Malta
Trevor displayed six definitive series including some errors from Fiji
Next was a display of Falklands Islands postal history, with covers from the period of hostilities
Bill showed covers postmarked from the many islands of the British Isles
John Garrett concentrated on covers, stationery and aerogrammmes from Papua New Guinea
Albert Jackson put up six sheets demonstrating the unique concession labels used by the air mail service in the Aegean in 1943
Rod concentrated on the islands around Ireland and some of the 'non-islands' there
Don Seaby also covered Malta, using GB stamps with the A25 cancellations, and subsequent ones from QV and KGVII
Hugh Jefferies treated us to one island country's stamps used in another island country, such as Tristan da Cunha used in Gough Island
Alan King put up some very interesting Channel Island war time occupation issues, explaining some of their hidden symbols
The evening closed with David's cover to Jersey from the Siege of Paris, and letters out of Jersey during the Occupation

1963 cover from Mui To, Lantau Island to Taipei	Postmaster General's deliberate error of "One Pnny", on cover	Philatelic cover from Gough Island, which helped finance the students tour there
1870 letter to the Channel Islands	Captured German gunboat off Guernsey, 1914	1d Jersey stamp on letter to Sir Thomas about Jersey War Stamp's hidden signs

(chris wheeler)

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Monday 18 December, 2017
Christmas Events, wine, mince pies quizzes, raffle

This, the final meeting in the Club’s 2017 calendar, proved to be excellent in all respects. A cold night did not deter too many members and those who attended this evening of festive fellowship, were well rewarded. Carol ably assisted by Alan and Don again pulled out all the stops and provided wonderful Christmas cheer. Terry, sadly absent, was the author of much enjoyed topical philatelic quizzes, one of an amusing humorous nature, quite in the ‘Kirkman’ tradition!! The evening was well rounded off with a generous Club Raffle, which left a smile on the Treasurer’s face!! Ah well!!...another most enjoyable event in the Club calendar, and one which both Chairman Bob and the Membership present fully appreciated.      ‘Thanks’.                     

One of the Christmas Quizzes

(Paul Barry)

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Monday 11 December, 2017
Three Sheets from Everybody

1906 Family Christmas Card	Underpaid label on cover from Eire to Northern Ireland	Cover from set of 3 from West Moors to Mr Allen
100 year old Lady's Dance List	POW card from USA to Italy	Six of the Swiss cancellations
"Christmas Crackers 2017"	Rare 1/- red and green on cover to USA	Four of the Black Swan display, two with Official holes

(chris wheeler)

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Monday 27 November, 2017
"The Tin Can Mail of Niuafo'ou Island" - John Davis FRPSL

The Club was extremely honoured to welcome member John Davis FRPSL at the November meeting. Hotfoot from Autumn Stampex, John arrived with his superb exhibit- ‘The Tin Can Mail of Niuafo’ou Island’ a 128 A4/A3 sheet presentation where he had won a Large Gold Award. John provided background information, beginning with an understanding of Tonga/Fiji and Niuafo’ou in particular, with its international date-line status. This tiny island, one in a volcanic chain, with a previous population of 1,300 had a coconut only industry, but with no airstrip or harbour facilities, communications were difficult. Mail services in/out were achieved for some years in the early part of the last century by swimmers with sealed canisters, later via canoes, reaching out to occasional passing deep-water ships; Arthur Tindall being the inspiration of this unique postal service. Volcanic action has seen various population evacuations, the latest returning in 1958. The tin-can service continued until the construction of an airstrip and shipping facility in 1983. The evening’s display consisted of 142 sheets and made use of varied material…maps, stamps, postmarks, censor marks, covers, letters, postcards, photos and air-graphs, supported by an excellent section on the introduction of cruise ships, their covers and publicity. This indicated an on-going world-wide fascination with tin-can mail. A particular emphasis was placed on destination mail, both in/out of the island, with a number being unusual, unique or rare. This was a brilliantly researched study in its entirety, with a detailed plan, development and full bibliography, as seen in the hand-sheet provided, not to mention the high quality sheet construction and write-up.
          Bob Small, wearing both a philatelic and Chairman’s hat stated in his great appreciations, doubtless shared by all-
‘some wonderful material…not surprised with the Large Gold Award, brilliant!!’

Front cover of the book telling the story of how the first coconut tree began in Niuafo'ou	Early 1911 postcard to Germany showing the very rugged coastline of the island	Cover from the SS Los Angeles from the island to California, via Guam and the Philippines
Cover from Granville, Australia to Niuafo'ou showing an image of the island	Very rare cover dated 11 August 1938 despatched by the cruise liner Maunganui	Statistics showing the mail count during the Golden Age of Tin Can Mail

The last Tin Can Mail cover, following the Evacuation Order, December 1946	Cocver with handwritten message by the Postmaster explaining that the hand cancellation stamp had been destroyed by the volcano
Tonga's first Tin Can Mail stamps	FDC of the resumption of the Tin Can (Canoe) Mail service in January 1962
Niuafo'ou's commemorative air mail service stamps	1940 cover sent to France via England, but returned as due to the War the England to France service was suspended

(paul barry)

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Monday 13 November, 2017 - 6 in 2 Thematic, The Sea

This evening of ‘home entertainment’ was again a most enjoyable event in a packed programme. Committee members had anticipated a poor auction, having seen a considerable downturn in consigned material in past months. This was not to be. A very sizeable quantity of lots were received, many of really worthwhile content. This auction proved most successful with a fair number of happy bidders, later  grasping bags and boxes and staggering home in the damp and misty night!! Now to the earlier thematic input. A total of ten displays were shared, again with diverse themes. Gerald Scanlon produced a study of modern stamps on the subject of ‘The Royal Australian Navy’, which included a delightful mini-sheet depicting 10 different ships, issued in 2011. ‘Seaplanes’ followed the nautical theme. Here John Duckworth described a troubled long distance flight of a Dornier Do-x to South America in November, 1930, reaching Rio six months later. Chichester’s aviation exploits were also celebrated. 'Famous Liners’ was the topic pursued by Chris Wheeler. He considered famous ships via stamps and postcards, including ‘Titanic’, ‘Empress of Britain’ and ‘France’…to name a few. With his naval background, Spence Coaker was well placed to take on the theme ‘Over the Sea, On the Sea, Under the Sea’ making interesting use of stamps, postcards and covers.  Old postcards were well used to promote Mike Trickett’s contribution on ‘Naval Images’, including Le Harve, Calais. ‘Paddle Steamers’ was well documented by John Garrett who via numerous postcards managed to convey a real sense of Bournemouth naval nostalgia. A superb sepia postcard of 1887 drew the eye…depicting a steamer at a landing stage at Lulworth. Charles Lennard considered ‘The Good Ship Arcadia’ with interesting supporting items – maps, postcards and covers. David Parsons was in good company with other holiday themed inputs with his ‘Sea-side Postcards’. These included sections on ‘Bathing Beauties’ and ‘A few Splashes from Jersey’. Don Seaby reminded Members of his extensive naval experiences. Using an all-postcard approach he referred to service on ‘HMS Tyne’ and ships in Portsmouth harbour. The final contribution came from Harry Tabbeart whose naval experiences based on lengthy service enabled him to provide another fascinating display. Via covers and ‘paquebot’ cancels a worthy glimpse was achieved of modern shipping. However one cover stood out; this depicted an illustrated cover… ‘25th Anniversary First Deck Landing Pure Jet Aircraft…HMS Ocean, 3rd Dec, 1945.   ’ Now how early was that achievement?!   
This ‘6 in 2’ input concluded a great first part to the evening!

Japanese cover to Australia from a ship in Tokyo Bay at the formal Surrender Meeting, on 2 September 1945	Cover flown from GB to South America, then to USA on the first Dornier X Flight from 1930 to 1931	Crash Cover from Sir Francis Chichester's plane Gypsy Moth which crashed in the Philipinnes, 1939
Hong Kong miniature sheet showing the sea bridge to Stonecutters Island	The Packet Ship at Falmouth	A Paddle Steamer landing at Lulworth Cove in 1861
The Ariadne, a popular Finland Shipping Company vessel - advertising poster	"Rough Seas", painted in 1497, showing Mount Orguile Castle, Jersey	Local stamps printed to commemorate the release of the three British ships being released form the Canal at the end of the War in 1967

(Paul Barry)

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Monday 23rd October 2017
"Napoleonic Prisoners of War Mail" - Richard Farman

A very rich feast awaited Members on this dark and cold October evening. Programme Secretary Hugh Jefferies had yet again secured the services of a first rate speaker, Richard Farman.  Here was presented a very extensive and superbly written up collection of naval social history. Many items were unique and provided insights into the life and times of the period. Members came to appreciate that such postal history informs historians’ stock of knowledge, and as a source, it is a much valued tool. The photographs depicted here provide just a glimpse of extent, quality and rarity of exhibits.    A number of Members are collectors of this philatelic area and were therefore highly impressed by material shown and content of discourse.  Chairman Bob Small is most certainly part of this august group and in his summing up and vote of thanks he did not attempt to mask his sheer delight in the evening’s presentation.

The New HMS Ville de Paris	Letter written by seaman on board Bodicia, off Falmouth, with 1/8d postage, 4th January 1798	Sheerness Dockyard
Seaman's letter written to HMS Podargus at Sheerness, 15th March 1813, at concessionary rate	A Free letter to Kent from HMS Warrior of Texel during the Napoleonic Wars, 1813	Waterloo Subscription, with Free postage dated 19 June 1816
Letter written during the American War of Independence, 1779	POW letter to Cornwall from Givet in France, taking 203 days to deliver	One of Brian Hawkins' illustrated military covers, posted in Gatwick, 2002

(paul barry)

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Monday 9th October 2017
Postal Stationery, Cinderellas and 'Back of the Book' - Members

When the chairman asked who had brought along material, he was somewhat disappointed to see that only 4 people had responded. Maybe this could have been put down to the description in the programme which may have put some members off. Perhaps we need to explain what Cinderella and Back of the Book means in future. However the 4 displays that followed certainly prompted intense interest.

First off the blocks was Geoff Hood with a most unusual display of postal stationery, but with a difference: the stamps on the stationery items had been cut out and mounted. Geoff insisted that he had not purposely vandalised these items! The embossed stamps were mainly produced for envelopes and consisted of 1d and 2p stamps.

In 1885 more values were introduced up to one shilling. Other examples came from the letterpress used for postcards where the rate for overseas was 1 ¼ d. Registered post provided more examples and finally newspapers wrappers produced the elongated stamps used to wrap round the paper.

John Duckworth followed with a broad look at the Jubilee Penny Post starting with an invitation to the Guildhall in London; stationery cards and special cancellations were all part of the celebrations, however there was always the fear of caricatures being produced and sure enough some of these were on display. At the end of the celebratory year even Christmas cards were introduced with all the proceeds going to the Rowland Hill Trust,

Don Seaby started off with some postal stationery of the Isle of Wight before concentrating on Cinderella material promoting the Boy Scout and Girl Guide movement. The display was not confined to stamps but also postcards issued by Bournemouth Stamp Auctions and Stanley Gibbons.

Bringing up the rear Hugh Jefferies produced 9 sheets of Indian Officials. The earliest ones were using East India Company stamps overprinted but subsequent issues were printed as Indian stamps. Unlike the British cancels on high values which were usually perfectly centred and clear, the high values on the Indian telegraphic officials left a lot to be desired.

An auction followed after the interval.

Terry Kirkman
   

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Saturday 30th September - HAMPEX, Wickham

A very active scene presented itself to the visitor on arrival, the hall full of dealers and buyers, the kitchen busy and when the time came for the awards for the Competition Entries to be presented there was a reasonable attendance to witness and congratulate the successful participants, though sadly few were actually there to receive their trophies and medals.

Paul Barry accepting awards on behalf of absent winners

Hampshire Philatelic Federation - Hampex - Competitions 2017 - Awards

(chris wheeler)