(The programme for 2021 was during the first part of the year comprised of a series of five newsletters, called UNHINGED, which are now available to be read in Ringwood Society's history page: please click here).

Subsequent issues of Unhinged do not appear on the Society's webpages

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY FOR 2024 AND 2025

President:  Colin V Mount FRPSL
Chairman:  Paul Barry - 01932 581791
Secretary & Approvals Secretary: Gordon D Masson - 01425 470710
Treasurer:  John A Stevens - 01425 483364
Competitions Secretary:  David Etchells - 01425 402135
 Programme Secretary: Michael L Goodman - 01202 397986/07711 813961
Publicity Secretary: Paul Barry - 01747 631052

PROGRAMME FOR 2024 AND 2025

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Past Meeting Reports

To see reports and pictures of meetings from 2012 to May 2023, please click here

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Report on the Meeting held on Tuesday 8th October 2024
Julian Bagwell with "British Army in Egypt and/or Christmas Stamps"

(Gordon Masson)

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Report on the Meeting held on Tuesday 10th September 2024
Members - "The Letter 'B'"

(Paul Barry)

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Report on the Meeting held on Tuesday 9th July 2024
57th AGM and Mike Goodman Entertains

RPS Annual AGM July, 2024
Presentation of Awards
Our President Colin Mount FRPSL
 was bestowed
Honorary Life Membership by Immediate Past President Rowan Brockhurst

MARCH 2024 Club Competition Results and Awards

Novis Class (Elsie Martin Cup) Simon Casalis de Pury
‘Birds of Zambia’

Postal History Class (Tom Judson Plate) Michael Goodman
‘Gone Astray’

in addition:

The Spariot Cup was awarded to John Davis as the Competition Winner
‘Free Territory of Trieste’

(Gordon Masson)

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Report on the Meeting held on Tuesday 11th June 2024
One Page Competitions - Members

(Paul Barry)

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Ringpex, 1st June 2024

Shop Window of RINGPEX Sponsor

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Report on the Meeting held on Tuesday 14th May 2024
Roger Merrell with "Austro-Hungarian Army"

This was a deeply historical presentation covering mainly the period from the middle of the 19th Century through to the First World War years. The background focussed on this sprawling European royal family with its 8 official languages. This Empire was hugely bureaucratic and driven by rules.  It lacked cohesion and was vulnerable, giving rise to the fertile landscape for tyranny to explode, as indeed it did, with the famous shooting of the Archduke and the excuse William needed for the start of conflict, resulting in the ‘war to end all wars’. The speaker Roger Morrell, provided a detailed commentary of all matters military (Army and Navy) and insights into lives of civilians, through these turbulent decades, but particularly concerned with the war years. He underpinned his huge display with a raft of unique and seldom seen philatelic items – stamps, postcards, including Field Postcards, Field Hospital Mails, Internment Camp Posts, telegrams, numerous cachets, including red ones denoting ‘free posts’, censor marks, covers (often entires) and those with postage-due applications, telegrams and charity stamps. Maps were well featured, as was the interesting background information on ‘Venna’s Mapping Institute, and a 1917 poster promoting wartime commitment.
This was an evening to enthral not only military students, but anyone with a sense of European history, pulsing through their veins. For ardent stamp and postcard collectors, this provided a rare insight into scarce and rare philatelic material.

	Internment Mail, 26 December 1916
	Herwig Rainer

(Paul Barry)

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Report on the Visit from the Alton Philatelic Society,
9th April 2024

        Four Members of Alton Philatelic Society visited their Ringwood Cousins and the resulting displays were both most interesting and of high calibre. Nick Twinning presented a truly amazing study of GB Victorian ‘2 Penny Blues’. For many, this was the largest collection of such stamps ever seen. It had its origins in childhood, where Nick was encouraged to collect by his family. Developing his collection in retirement, Nick’s love of such ‘blue’ stamps took hold and quickly built up into a fascinating study. This collection was far reaching, having within it, singles, blocks, including one of 12, and covers also. The display spanned 1840 (no white lines), through to the 1841 white lined issue. These imperforated stamps, were soon to be replaced by the perforated issues of both ‘letters’ and ‘stars’. Also included were cancels (one blue!) and numerous varieties and flaws. Worn and repaired plates were also considered. The depth and quality of write-up was superb, being a most worthy partner to, as RPS Chairman stated, ‘these sapphire gems!!).

The second presentation could not have revealed greater contrast!  Here, Greg Newey shared his most colourful ‘Kingfishers’  display. A thematic collector all his life, Greg also shared his equal passion - his love of fishing! Members learnt that there are 86 kingfisher varieties world-wide, with our ‘flash of blue’ friend being found mainly in Europe, with parts of North Africa and Asia being other locations.   The Kingfisher, a solitary bird, lives its life around marshes, rivers and connected woodlands. His early reference to ‘The Observer’s Book of Birds’, was a major instructional player, with his display being further enhanced by numerous global stamps, including the GB 1980 issue, with covers, cigarette cards, beer mats and other associated material all enhancing this remarkable treasure trove.

 Chairman Paul Barry, spoke for all, in his warm summing up, when he presented the Ringwood PS Appreciation Certificate to their Chairman, Peter Cox. A grand afternoon indeed!

( Paul Barry Publicity)

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Report on the Meeting held on Tuesday 12th March 2024
Annual Club Competitions

 The judging of the entries took place prior to the event, so that entrants could both obtain feedback and discuss their entries within the meeting, this being a new practice which gained much support. With Judge Colin Mount FRPSL (RPS President) sadly unable to attend (a philatelic funeral), the entrants displayed their entries, with detailed feedback. (Results to be given at a later meeting) The 12 Members present, greatly enjoyed the wide ranging displays. Roy Barnett discussed his ‘Wilding Definitives of GB’ which covered strips, various security inclusions and 3 different watermarks, (1952 until 1967), together with themes on ‘Automatic Letter Facing’’, ‘Channel Islands Regional Issues with Wilding Designs’, plus ‘Castles’ and blocks of 4 and booklets. Michael Goodman provided ‘USA Postal Stationery Rates and Instructional Markings/Redirection of Mail’. Any mail not cleared went to ‘Return to Sender’ or to the  ‘Dead-letter Office’ in Washington. Postage due stamps were added, some paid by UPU. His second entry proved equally worthwhile, being ‘USA  Postal Stationery from 1870-94’. Mainly stamps and covers were considered, which included early embossed envelopes, different dies, express services envelopes and decorated commercials.    John Stevens presented ‘The Life of King Bhumibol (Rhama 9th) of Thailand’. John became interested philatelically in 1990, having moved to work in the Far East.           (He achieved 80-90 Thailand visits!) The King had the second longest reign of any monarch, some 70 years. (QE2 being longest). Stamps shown commemorated the King’s life, including 10 different definitive issues. The longest stamp (170cms) was issued following the monarch’s death in 2016. Zambian born Simon Casalis de Pury revealed his fascinating French origin display ‘Family History in Covers from 1878’ which stemmed from when his father collected, being underpinned by 4 collecting generations. Simon is related to Dylan Thomas’ daughter and there was a cover reflecting this. Other family items were FDCs, military and childhood mail, from various African countries.  Simon then presented his ‘Novice’ entry ‘Birds of Zambia’ which included  FDCs and their mint sets. Inflationary fueled postal surcharges were also a feature. John Davis’ entry ‘Free Territory of Trieste (FTT) Zone B Yugoslav Military Government 1948-54’ was another well researched display, which will be discussed when John is able to attend.
The latter part of the afternoon consisted of 2 mini-displays:-

Gordon Masson shared his 2 sheets of recently acquired Empire over-prints and surcharges and Commonwealth, from Queen Victoria to Queen Elizabeth 2nd.   Four ‘mystery stamps’, a few interesting acquisitions and an illustrated postcard by Churchill featured,  together with a cover and letter from King Charles 3rd’s Office to Gordon’s two daughters, following a letter from them outlining he and his wife’s voluntary work in over 50 years. (The format of the cover is featured in an article in the current Royal London Philatelic Society Journal written by Ian Gregg). David Etchells concluded with a  short display “Investigating a 1793 Free Frank Front” (FFF).   Fine exhibits indeed!    The first cover was of a 2nd April 1783 FFF from MP/ Solicitor General Joseph Jekyll which, from 1600s-1840 allowed MPs to  send their mail with no postal charges. This had been sent to Messrs Parker (Glass Men), Fleet Street, London with a Taunton handstamp. J.J. had 2 sons, the younger being the father of the famous garden designer Gertrude Jekyll, who designed 3 gardens in nearby Burley. The elder son was a great friend of Robert Louis Stevenson who used the family name in ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’. J.J. himself wrote the biography of the black save trade abolitionist, Ignatius Sancho who features on a 2007 GB stamp ‘Abolition of the Slave Trade’ issue. The address for the first cover proved to be 69, Fleet Street which was occupied by Parker & Sons, Glass Manufacturers, specializing in chandeliers. After William Parker died in 1817, the property was occupied by the security printers of banknotes and cheques - Perkins, Fairman & Heath, later becoming Perkins Bacon who printed the Penny Black on these premises in 1840. This cover encouraged David to make further fascinating research connections.

Members agreed that the new meeting format provided ‘a much better approach’
to the Annual Competitions and would ‘encourage more Members to become involved’.

Free Franks - Jekyll and Hyde - 2nd April 1793 from Taunton to London

(Gordon Masson, with Paul Barry, Editing)

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Report on the Meeting held on Tuesday 13th February 2024
Alan Whittaker - "Channel Islands Occupation"

Colin Mount introduced our Speaker, Alan Whittaker, an ex-member of some years, from Romsey, with his display specialising in the occupation of the Channel Islands by German forces in WW2. Alan has been a regular visitor to these Islands since 1962.
Before occupation, the Channel Islands had been part of the UK. In 1940 the British Government decided that Britain could not defend the Islands (very close to the French coast when France was over-run), and all British soldiers were taken off followed by the children. The last boat left on 23rd June 1940, but the last evacuees left on 28th June. The harbour of Jersey was bombed by German aircraft, having not been informed that GB troops and many civilians had left, misinterpreting fishing activity in the harbour as military. German aircraft landed in the next week and the Bailiffs of Jersey and Guernsey surrendered to them. The Bailiffs were allowed to continue to run the administration of the Islands, though with very strict restrictions.
We were being treated to a very detailed history of those days from our speaker who had obviously taken first-hand experiences from those involved and much written evidence for this part of his display.
The German Army stopped incoming mail and telegraph communication with the UK. Mail from London to Jersey and Guernsey was stopped and special cachets stamped on covers. C. I.’s newspapers were used to dictate eg. restricted areas on the Islands, and the introduction of 10 cards to inform the administration eg of all property ownership, nationality of the population, transport movements etc.
There were 6,000 German troops on the Islands so there was rationing of water, control of commodities such as cattle etc. There was no gas on the Islands and few trees, so import of coal was controlled. Food hoarding was disallowed. Ration cards for milk, food, clothing etc were issued. Permits for ploughing, tree-cutting etc were used. Much of Alan’s display material consisted of examples of these cards, forms and other memorabilia. Bread making was allowed by the bakeries and island families would cook their meals in the ovens as they cooled during the day. Wartime cookery books were produced to save fuel and scarce food resources. Germany decided that their troops would be paid in Reichsmarks (8 = £1) and shops had to accept German cash. The Islands’ newspaper printers produced printed cash in note form for the population.
The C.I.s produced their own postage stamps:-  Guernsey -1/2d,1d and 21/2d; Jersey- 1/2d and 1d. There was much variety – shades, perforations, papers (eg on French banknotes), and many were shown in the display including First Day Covers. Envelopes were re-used. Philatelic items from Sark are rarer. Some envelopes were made from “tomato paper”. Newspaper wrappers and postcards were shown. Some
-2-
forged stamps were included as exhibits. Cars and motorbikes were impounded, and bicycles were licensed. German troops had their own free-post system.
In Part 2, Alan showed us letters and covers from detainees from the armed services kept on the Islands, with several accompanying anecdotes, including some to do with the research undertaken to produce the display. Red Cross officers in the UK during the war, took forms from people wanting to get messages to relatives and others on the Islands. These were routed via (neutral)Spain, to Germany thence to the Islands and then to the individuals via the Bailiffs (censored of course). Alan is a Member of the Channel Islands Specialist P.S. and his contacts have allowed him access to many sources, eg. representatives of International Red Cross in Madrid for the 5 years of the war, who were involved with food parcel and letter transfers and with searching for missing persons. Evacuees from the Islands set up a Society to communicate with family members still living there.
Liberation stationery was shown eg. messages for families, cartoon cards, letters to and from people on the Islands, including the Liberation Supplement to the Jersey Weekly Post. Many examples were shown from people sending to families abroad, then to families on the C.I.s, and service personnel. One soldier’s records and a letter were exemplified. He went into a prisoner-of-war camp on the Cis and he eventually returned. Prison camp newspapers were also shown.
This display was very largely composed of personal stories from those who lived through the experience. Alan skillfully wove his narrative through the extremes of harshness and hardship of wartime, to the stoic determination of the population to survive. Documentation was wide-ranging, informative and gave us a unique insight into the stark realities of existence under occupation. Colin gave the vote of thanks and presented Alan with a commemorative certificate.  We had been treated to a display which gave us a sensitive but not over-sensational view of an often- forgotten aspect of the war, reminding us how close it was to our shores.
Gordon Masson.

(Gordon Masson.)

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Report on the Meeting held on 9th January 2024
Grand Auction followed by Members’ Displays.
(Some Members visit Alton P.S.)

        The new philatelic year got away in really excellent style with a new development: a Grand Auction!!  In the past couple of years, donated items to RPS enabled a considerable sale and Members provided lively bids. There were the regular inputs of stock-books and mainly elderly catalogues, but up for auction and keenly contested were also interesting stamps and covers, some GB Victorian. All in all, something for everyone!  Tributes go to Gordon Masson as both consignment officer and auctioneer and to John Stevens for managing the paperwork!. A pleasing £77 was achieved for the event. Turning to the displays, there were four worthwhile presentations. Covering a wide area of study, it was pleasing to see both the gentle development of beginner researched interest, leading through to more developed  contributions; Canada, Asia and GB being the focus. Two members of Committee -David Etchells and Michael Goodman - attended Alton Philatelic Society, where they each provided excellent displays, being early studies of GB and USA and were much appreciated, with a return fixture due in April.
All agreed that this had been a very positive RPS January start!

Paul Barry, Publicity

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Report on the Meeting held on 12th December, 2023
Christmas Meeting

This RPS special event, marking the end of a successful year, extended a very warm welcome to both Members and their partners. The 26 participants enjoyed an excellent non-philatelic programme, organised by the Committee. Chairman Paul Barry introduced the Speaker, local historian Mary Baldwin, whom he described as a long serving authority on Ringwood’s history, of which her study, investigation, passion and writings (3 books), enabled her to hold the audience’s close attention. Speaking on the topic of ‘Ringwood Pubs Past and Present’, Mary uncovered a complex mix of buildings, use, personalities, chronic social change, and numerous physical losses and developments. Of these, three emerged as front runners in the race to ruin the town’s appearance and economic base: the removal of the Market, the loss of the railway and the huge developments on the northern side, providing the much needed by-pass, yet landscape destroyer. This great inter-active talk was developed in tandem with a series of superb photos, a few of which are provided here in this report. (to follow).
          Immediate Past President, Rowan Brockhurst, was invited to propose the vote of thanks, which he undertook with great aplomb, being both well known to the Speaker, and a very long term resident, with considerable local historical knowledge.
          Moving on to the Christmas tea, Members were well impressed, as they were with the fine range of Raffle Prizes. At the conclusion of the afternoon, the Chairman again thanked Mary for her fascinating talk, ably assisted on the digital projector, by Rob Hibbitt. He then paid tribute to President Colin Mount for organising this (non Philatelic) entertainment, to Secretary Gordon Masson for his major (frequent) behind the scenes work and a special mention was made of John and Sue Stevens, who had organised both the refreshments and the Raffle. Finally notes of appreciation were given to Jo Knott as official photographer, Michael Goodman (Programme Secretary) for his generous supply of a litre bottle of sherry to kick-start the proceedings! - and to all attending to ensure this was a real success in the Society’s 2023 calendar.

Mary Baldwin with Paul Barry

(Paul Barry - Chairman & Publicity)

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Report on the Meeting held on 14th November, 2023
Mike Smith FRPSL with "Orange Free State"

This was truly an exploration into a little known area of philatelic study. Society Members had within their reach an introduction to, as the Chairman said:
 ‘A huge, deep study of much complexity; rare, superb quality.. exceptional write up’. 
        Mike Smith, besides his ‘Royal’ status, has many crowning glories. He is an International Judge, an authority on Postal Stationery, Secretary of the Federation of International Philatelists’ Philatelic Society Commission (with 4 Large Gold Medals) and recently returned from Essen in Germany, having presented at the Seminar:   ‘Current Trends in Postal Stationery’. (May, 2023)
        Setting the Orange Free State in context, Mike explained that the State principally benefited from its agricultural and mining activities. Mike skilfully traced its postal history in some depth. First administered by GB, this tiny country found itself at the centre of international affairs, being a major focus of the Boer War. (1899) It was inevitable that a chequered philatelic path was to evolve. A complex web of official stationery card printings, (De la Rue) with some locally produced, was to ensue, with many observed within the display. The presentation was far ranging, covering stamp and card production, including overprints (Bloemfontain), and rarities. The accompanying photographs provide a flavour of the specialisation which this presentation revealed. Mike made good use of anecdotes which included insights into how his collection was formed. Amongst the fascinating points made was that on asking dealers to reveal their stock of ‘Orange Free State’ items, frequently bargains could be obtained, since this was a largely unstudied area of philately, and their lack of knowledge could be to his advantage!!   Perhaps with more recent publicity, it is harder to strike such bargains from dealer stock books!!
A wonderful presentation of philatelic material, being of clearly international status.

( Paul Barry, RPS Publicity Officer)

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Report on the Meeting held on 10th October, 2023
Tony Hickey with "Munich 1938 - The Road to War"

Our new Programme Secretary Michael Goodman introduced Tony Hickey from Kent. Michael had seen this display before and had written a long Report in Stamp Lover (December 2022), from which I have quoted and paraphrased.
The stated aim of the presentation was to illustrate an historical period with philatelic material. This was well achieved by the telling of the story of Czechoslovakia (Cz) from its inception in 1918, through the ceding of the German-speaking region of Sudetenland and to the “Munich Agreement” of 1938. Nationalism was rife after World War 1 (WW1) and the Treaty of St Germaine, when Cz and Poland became separate countries. 3.5 million German people were incorporated into Cz borders largely living in the Sudetenland (Sd) province.
The display started with material from Cz and Poland showing the main protagonists in the formation of these 2 countries. Newer and over-printed older stamps were shown. The League of Nations was formed at this time. Communism was spreading too and the Cz Army had to be brought in on occasions to quell rising unrest. Parliamentary elections were put in place, but the German-speaking people (of Sd) were unhappy and Germany agitated for support for their German interests in Cz.
“Germanism” grew with German people living in many European countries, largely fueled by the International Gymnastic League. Hitler’s aspirations for a German Empire (similar to pre-WW1) were becoming a reality (the 1938 take-over of Austria and the eventual annexation of the Sudetenland). No-one wanted another European war, so Chamberlain (UK) went to Hitler hoping for a peace treaty. Hitler made a deadline of 1st October 1938 to sort the situation out. Philatelic material was reflective of these events (postcards, lettercards, caches, stamps, postmarks and over-prints).
Tony related the acceleration of war with a very knowledgeable dialogue backed up by the carefully constructed chronological order of the presentation and display material. The Munich Conference of all concerned countries signed an agreement that Germany should have the Sudetenland and that there should be no war. Chamberlain brought back the famous “agreement” waving it to the crowd as he alighted from the aircraft on his return to London.
Our Member George added his perspective as a Czech refugee after WW2, as his wife and his families had lived through this period; and we learned much from the resulting discussion between him and the Speaker.

(Paul Barry)

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Report on the Meeting held on 12th September, 2023
Members’ Displays Using the Letter ‘A’ + Bring & Buy’

        This very well attended meeting saw 9 worthy displays, which together with a huge ‘Bring & Buy’ session, certainly secured an excellent evening, the first in the autumn calendar. The subjects were far ranging.
Gordon Masson’s ‘Locomotives’ was the first presentation and comprised 15 sheets. This focussed on old railway engines which were promoted by mainly first day covers and postcards. Under the neat title ‘Art in the Age of Steam-in Philately’, the display depicted railway steam engines dating from 1830, right through to the present.
 ‘Australian Antarctic Territory’ was displayed by Keith Clements. Using album pages which covered both this territory and relevant GB issues,  the subject provided a colourful emphasis on ‘global warming’ and ‘wild life’, ‘scientific’ and ‘trading supply shipping’.
A strong collecting interest was evident in Clarewyn Smitt’s long term amassing of ‘Interesting Postmarks’ (from numerous philatelic administrations). This was a fascinating study of medical themed cancels, many being of health-slogan or recruitment advertising intent,
Michael Goodman considered ‘A is for Advertised’ through a series of covers. This display looked at the Post Office’s practice of advertising, to find addressees.  (Unclaimed Mail)
RPS welcomed new member Rob Hibbitt’s personal contribution of ‘A New Zealand Conception’. This featured ‘Operation Deep-freeze’ - a code name for US missions to Antarctia with a superb airmail bearing a 1978 ‘Polar Star’ cancel.
‘Additional’ was David Etchells’ early study which revealed his finding of a cover with a half-penny ‘Wheel Tax’ handstamp...a tax levied in Scotland. (1813-1839)
‘Anhingas -a snapshot of a colonial past’ was a beautifully written-up display, compiled by Simon Casalis de Pury. This looked at French Equatorial Africa stamp issues - 1936 (first issue) and 1958 (final).
The concluding presenter, Paul Barry, shared his origins of collecting interest in Southern Rhodesian issues, whereby a large box containing an African drum, stuffed with numerous stamps had been posted to him when aged 12, from his godfather, a keen philatelist, based in its capital, Salisbury...magic!! Entitled ‘Acquisitions’, it well rounded off the ‘A is for...’ themed evening, to be followed by a major ‘Bring & Buy’ session, being made possible by a most generous local donor, via Gordon Masson,
the RPS secretary.

(Paul Barry, Publicity Officer)

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Report on the Meeting held on 11th July, 2023
AGM and Mini-Displays

RPS  President Colin Mount opened the AGM with much enthusiasm, greeting the excellent numbers present and launched the formal part of evening.  Following the agreement of Minutes for the last AGM 12th July 2022, the usual reports were received. Chairman Paul Barry was on hand to present his annual report which showed huge appreciation for all involved in the successes of the Society, and paid tribute to all the hard work of both Committee and Members. (please refer to the most detailed AGM Minutes for additional reporting, including a photo Appendix, which reported on the worthy Inter-Club and One Page competitions, and also presentation of Awards to  Michael Goodman, David Etchells and John Stevens). Numerous valued activities/events were underlined, especially the Approvals Service, RINGPEX, Displays, Competitions and the excellent RPS Programme. Chairman welcomed Michael Goodman in his now official role as Programme Secretary, noting that an excellent 2023-4 programme was in place. (Michael replaced Colin Mount in this Office, being a huge act to follow!!) With a strong Committee in place for 2023-4, Chairman concluded and welcomed the evening’s Mini Displays….which were as follows:-
1.  Gordon Masson traced a little known ‘History of Australian Settlement’. An interesting series of covers supported the presentation, along with detailed maps and stamps. Here was a real ‘work in progress’.
2. Colin Mount presented an aspect of his famous ‘GV Penny Reds’. Here was a superb detailed study in 15 sheets of ‘Die Proofs’, a most rare collection indeed. His support material included stamps and prints, wrappers, covers and a consideration of perforations.
3. David Etchells continues to develop his collection of ‘Free Franks’. Mail, letters and signatures added to the rich mix of philatelic enquiry.
4. John Davis considered the ‘German Inflation Stamps in the period 1916-23. Over 15 sheets, John ably described the huge inflationary aspects. He produced colourful sets of overprinted stamps.
5. Bert Burton, across 17 sheets, provided a study of Gibraltar, with reference to ‘Hotels’.
6. Wendy Buckle displayed a single sheet from her extensive and high quality study, an extract from WWII Russia. It focussed on ‘Paper Shortage’.
7. John Stevens shared his study of ‘China Treaty Ports 1851, First Opium War’. His contribution was of album pages with stamps from various Cantons. An aspect covered postmarks and overprints from Hong Kong.
8. Paul Barry considered ‘Latest Acquisitions’ and displayed rare/unusual material relating to the GB 1887 Jubilee Series….a superb cancellation on a half-penny orange ‘Army Official’ and an exquisite orange paper parcel post label with 3d stamp, postmarked  ‘Westbourne Grove’, of which few exist.
 Thus concluded a most worthy RPS evening, with more Autumn goodies promised!!

Michael Goodman with 'The Imperforate Washington 3c of 1851'    Winner of the Traditional /General Class, being congratulated by Colin Mount, President	David Etchells being awarded for 'The Franking System in England'   Winner of the Postal History Class AND Overall Competition Winner	John Stevens being awarded for his 'GB Stamps Over-printed in Africa'   Winner of the One Page Competition	David Etchells in full flow describing his part of his 'Free Franks' display

(Paul Barry RPS Publicity)

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Report on the Meeting held on 13th June, 2023
John Davis, FRPSL with "A Look at Venice"

          For any philatelist needing a trip to Venice, but unable to make the journey, this was the answer! Over the course of some two hours, members were transported to this magnificent ancient city through the speaker’s amazing holiday experiences, knowledge of the historical time-line, his familiarity of its geography, culture, people architecture, traditions, art,  sculpture, glass, music and cinema….AND a visit to the St Mark’s Square Stamp Shop!!...the list is endless!  Here fellow Member John Davis FRPSL, underpinned his presentation with rich resource material encompassing stamps, miniature sheets, covers, disinfected mail, documents, maps, photos...and more!  The first half examined the time-line of Venice and its origins, up to 1796. Beautiful stamps celebrating famous painters featured, with Letter Sheets (philatelic?) that were issued to raise finances to assist the city’s flooding problems. The fall of the Republic in 1797 was considered, then moved on to 1866 when Venice was united into the Kingdom of Italy. Within the display following the break,  the study of rare and unique material, was possible, including that pertaining to the three Venices - 1918/1922.  Stamps were examined which were issued following the defeat of the Austrians by Italy. With Dalmatia being a part of the original Republic of Venice, the German Occupation of Zadar stamps issued in 1943/1944 were interesting indeed. The time line moved on to the end of the 2nd World War, when the Yugoslavs attacked, and the resulting provisional stamps were displayed, that were issued for Trieste, Istra and Fiume/Rijeka. 1945-1947 stamps were covered, these being from those parts of the Istrian Peninsula that were separately occupied by the British and Yugoslav Military Governments. Italian overprinted stamps relating to the 1947 period were particularly interesting, as were the new stamps issued up to 1954, when territory was formally incorporated into either Italy or Yugoslavia, whose own stamps were then used. John continued the display with items illustrating some of the Islands in the Venetian Lagoon, followed by a trip down the Grand Canal….wow!!
          This was a fast summary of the City’s story, liberally sprinkled by numerous supporting philatelic and other items, perhaps the most memorable of which were two modern examples of superb turquoise Morano glass, (decanter and tumbler) which John had borrowed from home, ‘under pain of death’...please do not touch!!
 (someone did, and I had to look away!!

Another wonderful event in the RPS calendar.

  
 Paul Barry, Publicity Officer

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Saturday 3rd June, 2023 - "RINGEX"

Without doubt, this year’s Philatelic Fair - RINGPEX, was one of the best and most enjoyable in recent years, achieving an excellent attendance, busy and most friendly atmosphere, with a good variety of purchasing opportunities, a healthy Penny Black and assorted raffle prizes, a day long availability of the  famous RINGPEX Bacon Roll and other cafe facilities!! 
        Bearing in mind that the majority of such fairs nationally are experiencing reduced interest and footfall, the RPS committee, with all its hard work, felt this had to be a major plus in its current programme.  The event proved to be as strong on providing an opportunity to engage with regular dealers, as it was in providing the setting for collectors and philatelic trading friends to discuss the latest matters of interest. 
Among the many visitors, an encouraging number took an interest in the Society’s official table, and requested further information, with a desire to join in membership. 

 RINGPEX certainly still has that magic ingredient
to set itself apart and be a firm diary favourite!

Gordon Masson studying some Australian items for sale

Paul Barry    RPS Chairman and Publicity Officer

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