Society Archive

We welcomed Mike Kentzer from King’s Lynn. The first half covered GB Free Mail which was introduced in 1652 mainly for MP’s and government officials. Many examples were shown both for privileged mail and its abuses. Handstamps were introduced from 1795. The second half covered Scarborough, the railway link to Whitby West, and many pictorial postcards showing views of the town, followed by various examples of postal history and the changes over many years.

For the zoom meeting we had Andy Soutar with a presentation covering “Penny Black Anniversaries”. The display commenced with various 1940 covers from around the world, not only from commonwealth countries but many other countries such as Cuba and Mexico. This was followed by 1979 covers marking the death of Rowland Hill. Other main anniversaries, such as 1990, were also displayed, with both booklets and miniature sheets.

The meeting in Cambridge was the Annual General Meeting which had been deferred from its usual June date. Thirteen members of the society were present. Reports from the many aspects of the society were presented and approved. Following discussion it was agreed that the annual subscription should continue at its present level of £20.00. Rufus Barnes bowed out as our president and Michael Brindle was welcomed in as the new president. At the end the presentation of the annual cups and trophies took place with Graham Wylde winning the Derrick Ray trophy for highest marks for a Cambridge member in the annual federation competition, and Peter Morton awarded the Jack Simmonds platter for services to the society in the past year.

For the zoom meeting we had Graham Wylde with the Evolution of the GB Line Engraved 1d issues 1840-1879. This was a wonderful display of the changes, markings and printing errors of the different issues, and how to try to place any individual stamp into the correct listed Gibbons printing.

The meeting in Cambridge was a Members’ Evening. As is usual on these evenings a wide range of material was shown. John George started with Belgian postal history mailed covers from late 1930’s to late 1940’s. Adrian Boggust produced some interesting cigarette cards of the 1930’s. Peter Morton displayed a mixture of pre QEII postage dues for both Dominica and St Lucia. Tony Crowther showed a mixture of Edinburgh hotel envelopes followed by a mixture of postcards of trams. Rufus Barnes put up a colourful display of used stamps from Basutoland ranging from 1938 through to 1965. Jan Jirmasek finished the evening with a mixture of Czechoslovakian postal rates in the war years from basic rates, postage dues, newspaper rates and rest of the world.

Peter Morton presented two zoom displays one covering the GB Carl Hentschel & Co Limited essays and colour trials for George V issued in 1910 and 1911. The latter arose due to the fact that the Head Postmaster had sacked De La Rue, who was the only printer for GB stamps a day before the death of King Edward VII. The second display covered Specimen Overprints for the Windward Islands Group up to the death of King George VI; these covered Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia and St Vincent, mainly late Victoria issues and those for Edward VII and George V.

The meeting in Cambridge was a slide show presentation undertaken by Hugh Feldman which covered “Mail Coach Routes in East Anglia”. This was a very interesting and detailed commentary on the subject which clearly had been very well researched. It was quite some time since the society had been given a slide show presentation in Oddfellows Hall.

The zoom meeting saw Jack Penfold, who is based in Canada, present a fascinating and unusual presentation on “The Australia 1d Red King George V Head Line Engraved Issue of 1913-1914”. The start of Jack’s research was taken from the details set out in the book written by Dormer Legge on the subject, with further analysis undertaken by Jack by special scans from a sample of some 50 mint stamps from the issue in question. These showed that the stamps fell into four main colour shades, where he had plotted the results onto a triangular pyramid.

The meeting in Cambridge was the second of the society’s competition evenings. Simon Hill won the 9 sheet 35 Year section with his entry of “The old in the New”. Graham Wylde won the 9 sheet Transportation of Mail section with his entry of “Early Days of Canadian Airmail”. Tony Crowther won the 16 sheet section with his entry of “BPO in Constantinople”. We were very grateful to the two judges who travelled from King’s Lynn for the evening.

During the judging of the competition entries Tony Crowther gave a very detailed and comprehensive display of “The Scottish Additional Half Penny Mail Tax”. This was an excellent presentation.

Jamie Smith presented the zoom display covering West Africa Frontier Post over the period 1895 to the beginning of World War 1. This included both outgoing mail to both the UK and parts of Europe and incoming mail to both ships and bases. Several examples were shown where a great deal of research had been undertaken as to the precise circumstances in place in West Africa at the date of the cover.

The first of the competition evenings reflected seven very good nine sheet entries across two main subjects. Graham Wylde won the Great Britain category with his entry covering the “1840 2d blue stamps”. Graham Wylde also won the Postal History category with “Scottish Maltese Cross Cancellations”. We were very grateful to the two judges who travelled from King’s Lynn for the evening.

For the society auction there were fewer lots than normal. There were several very good quality lots, which enabled a good return to be made for the society. Grateful thanks are due to our president Rufus Barnes who had collated all the lots and ran the auction.

The March zoom display evening saw an excellent and very detailed presentation from Jamie Smith which covered censorship mail from Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika.

The face to face meeting in Oddfellows Hall, which was set to be the first of the competition evenings was cancelled due to a set of unusual circumstances for the senior meeting officials.

The February zoom presentation was given by Andy Soutar from Leiston PS which covered Overprints & Surcharges from countries “A to B”. This was very comprehensive and enjoyable display, with a wide range of material displayed.

The New Year kicked off in Cambridge with a Members’ Evening making use of the letters J, K and L. As was usual at this format for the evening there was a wide range of philatelic material from the members who were present.

The January zoom presentation by Terry Wagg from King’s Lynn PS was a very fine display of the engraved stamps designed by Czeslaw Stania over many years. In the second half Peter Morton presented a display of Barbados mint stamps from Queen Victoria to the death of King George VI.