October was another Members’ Day where our members displayed all manner of topics. Brian Sedgley kicked off with Egyptian Post Offices in the Mediterranean with the appropriate postcards to match. Paul Taylor, a committed Austrian collector, gave us how Austria changed to Euro stamps. Phil Kenton showed us GB Special Delivery mail from its beginning in July 1980 to its end in October 1990. It was superseded by Guaranteed Special Delivery. John Lea showed us what can be done with recent purchases, a miscellany of covers, along with their various rates. David Carr gave us the history of the GB penny stamp, and finally in the first half, Michael Lockton gave a wonderful one frame display on Queen Anne’s Bounty, which was a fund established in 1704 for the organisation of the incomes of the poorer clergy in Cardigan, Wales. He showed a variety of entires in the 18th century, the earliest being 1744. The entires went by horseback (pre-dating the stagecoach) and took 7 days to arrive in London from Cardigan where they were stamped with London’s special Bishop Marks.
The second half was given a great start with Graham Mytton’s PowerPoint display of old BBC covers. Graham tells us that at its height the BBC received 650,000 letters a year, now sadly, it is but a few, because of the internet age/emails. Graham showed a few covers from China, Japan, Middle East and Africa. Some had dubious addresses but somehow got to the BBC such as, The Voice of England! John Dicker, an avid George VI collector, displayed some flaws on the Commonwealth GVI stamps and showed the difference in prices from an ordinary stamp to one that had a flaw. Julia Todd gave us an insight into Seals. Derek Weston showed us posterstamps, or cinderella’s from WWII which were sold for various causes to raise money. Tamsin Dungey gave another of her unique informative displays sorting out different printings, especially relevant for the complicated GB Seahorse stamps. A varied and enjoyable afternoon.