Royal philatelic society honour for michael farrant
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- 20th October
- Murray Figgins
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| The Royal Philatelic Society of London recently honoured our member MICHAEL FARRANT by making him an Honorary Fellow of that Society. The Royal has about 1900 members, and the rarity of that distinction can be judged by the fact that there are only 9 of its members who have been so honoured.
Michael joined the Worthing Society in 1957, Treasurer 1958-63, President 1967-68, Hon. Life Member 2.4.92; Founder Member of the Germany & Colonies PS in 1963, Packet Secretary 1983-2002, President 1994-98, Hon. Life Member; Association of Sussex Philatelic Societies President 84-86, Packet Secretary 1963-67, Accounts Examiner 2004 to date; joined Royal Philatelic Society of London 1969, Fellow 1979, Assistant Secretary 1989-90, Secretary 1990-92, Treasurer 1992-1999, Member of Council 1989-2001, Society's London Medal 2000, SE Representative 2000 to date; joined Chelmsford & District PS 1970. Treasurer 1971 -74, President 1973 - 74; joined Eastbourne & South Downs PS 1974, President 1978-79 and 1986-87, Accounts Examiner 2007 to date: Brighton & Hove PS Chairman & Treasurer 1998. There can be (very) few people who, for over 50 years, have given so much (and so willingly) to our hobby. Michael continues to give superb displays (German East Africa and Zanzibar) and at the time of preparation of these few paragraphs has 9 booked for 2012! On behalf of our Society, the most sincere congratulations are offered for an extremely well-deserved award. (Photographs by Martyn Fish) ********** POST OFFICE SPECIAL ISSUES, 2012 The November 2011 edition of the British Philatelic Bulletin lists the 2012 "Special Stamp Programme", with a proviso that "it may be subject to change" (probable, as there is for example, no Christmas issue shown). 5 January - London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Definitives; 10 January - Roald Dahl; 2 February - The House of Windsor; 6 February - The Diamond Jubilee Definitives; 23 February - Britons of Distinction; 8 March - Classic Locomotives of Scotland; 20 March - Comics; 10April-UK A-Z,Part2 15 May - Great British Fashion; 31 May - The Diamond Jubilee; 19 June - Charles Dickens; 27 July - Welcome to the London 2012 Olympic Games; 29 August - Welcome to the London 2012 Paralympic Games; 27 September - Memories of London 2012; 16 October - Dinosaurs; 30 October - Space Science. Members will doubtless have their own views as to the appropriateness or otherwise of some of the above e. g. Roald Dahl - why could we not wait until 2016, the centenary of his birth?, Comics and Fashion too, but the values! The Dahl sheet stamps are 1st class, 66p, 68p, 76p, £1•00 and £1•10, plus a Miniature sheet of 1st, 68p, 76p, £1•00 would make many a young collector (and perhaps some of more mature years) raid piggy boxes. The stamps on the M/s are, of course, of different designs to those on the sheets, and in the booklet there is also a M/s with the same 4 stamps as on the other M/s but in a different arrangement, while my "Pricing made easy" guide does not list rates of 66p or £1•00. The total cost of the Dahl issue is over £35! And for how long will these confections be available from your local Post Office? Again, I do not dispute the worthiness of an issue to honour Charles Dickens, but the date of release seems strange. It could have come on 9th June (to mark the author's death in 1870) or, better still, on 7th February to mark His 200th birth anniversary. ********** MASTERS OF THE POST by Duncan Campbell-Smith I was fortunate enough to be given, for Christmas, a copy of this volume, which is the Authorised History of The Royal Mail (Allen Lane, £30). When purchased, it came through The Times @ £25, post free, although I do not know if this still applies - I feel sure it would be available at Waterstone. At 849 pages I will not pretend I have read it all yet (!) but it looks a good chunky read if you have time between mounting your stamps or writing up your covers. ********** REVIEW (Photographs by Martyn Fish) 13th October Leslie Jobbins (Reigate) showed us his Netherland Express Mail, 1st March 1921 - 31st October 1946. The first 9 labels were "EXPRESSE" black on maroon, the last 3 "EXPRES" red on white, and Express mail had to be handed in to a Post Office. A good item was 1928 Bremen to Amsterdam, fwdd to Rotterdam, Netherlands stamp added for fwding. An additional charge was payable (usually by PDs) if addressee lived more than 2½ km from PO. Leslie had a congratulatory telegram sent Express at the p/c rate, and a p/c sent at this rate, and also mail to the Americas (1930-41) including one by Zeppelin. When the Netherlands were under German occn, mail was censored (Cologne or Berlin) until Pearl Harbour when service stopped. He has a 1936 cover signed by the same postman who signed a cover to the same addressee as one of 1928! With International Express mail, we saw some parcel cards: the card (with all stamps on it) went to the addressee who had to collect the item from PO, and we were also shown a double-size card, with message and address on the same side and then folded to normal p/c size. A parcel card with "DOCUMENT" on it needed customs clearance: this was in two parts with the larger on the parcel. There was a special rate to Belgium. We saw two registered items to the same addressee with consecutive regn nos. An item was seen which had been tested by the Germans for secret writing. It was thought that on 1st December 1942 Express mail was suspended but this did not apply to occupied or neutral countries, and Leslie has some 20 covers to prove it continued. Delivery of parcels started after WWII. Lastly, we saw a sideline collection of Netherlands fishing licence stamps (1•6•76 - 31•12•91), with two main types - one for using a single rod and another for using more than one rod. The 3rd type was for professional fishermen. Most had a fish as part of the design, and the last two were in booklets. These stamps would be classed as Revenues. Yet another display (beautifully written-up) which all enjoyed. Many thanks, Leslie. jmw 20th October Something German was the title of this display by Bill Hobbs, who collected Channel Islands via mail order when he first joined the club but quickly realised that specialising in a country was going to produce greater satisfaction than a monthly mail drop. Perversely, he chose Germany, although this was one of the European countries with which he had no linguistic familiarity, and all the material he showed had been painstakingly translated with the aid of a dictionary. For the first half, Bill concentrated on some of the 39 constituent states pre-unification, achieved with much pomp, and even more animosity by the French in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles, Paris, after the crushing 6-week defeat of the French army by Prussia. Bill showed us covers, legal documents, licences, bills, permits, tax stamps, and certificates of all description including examples of private posts officially used in the towns of Hanover, Leipzig, Magdeburg, Munich and Strasbourg. Along the way we learned of the British ownership of Hanover, returned in the absence of a male heir, and Heligoland, relinquished in return for some unspecified rights in Zanzibar. There was also an interesting section on the North German Confederation administered postally by von Stephan from 1868. mf 27th October The D, E, F evening was opened by Jennie Little with Falklands Dependencies starting with the thick and thin maps, then the British Antarctic Territories. Hugh Johnson had some Eastbourne PH, with meter marks, several pages of slogans, newspaper cuttings, etc. Brian Stalker told us about Evangeline, heroine of Longfellow's poem of that name; showed postmarks and PH of the Dominion Atlantic Railway, and a booklet on that railway - he also had a sheet from a clerk asking what to do with a found key, and the reply! Evelyn Hutchins had Denmark and GB Definitives, Europa; Flora (all plants including Fungi); Fauna (including Fish). Richard Bobbins had early Denmark including early "back of the book" and newspaper stamps. Murray Figgins went for India (well, it was at the time) with Errors (including a postal Forgery on piece), missing colours, and stamps with perforation problems. Mike Clark had Ducks, Deer, Divers, Elephants, Egrets, Flamingos, Frogs and a whole zoo. Ken Santer presented Egypt with the first stamp of 1864; the Pyramid & Sphinx issue (many printings); very many Exhibitions; an Air set (some on cover); and King Fuad and King Farouk - there was also a thematic display on the Suez Canal. Bill Hobbs showed Danzig, starting with opts on the Germania stamps, then later issues including inflation era material. Mike Wyatt gave us much, including Deutschland (Russian zone on transparent paper), a Field p/c, 1941 from Dachau Concentration Camp, Estonia First Five PHQ cards, and Flowers (Orchids). John Wright had Canada - the Dominion issue of 1928, the Dated Die (1935); first QE (1953) and a long Coronation FDC (1937) of Newfoundland. Geoff Gordon had Dominica Definitives - the long set of 26.11.69 with the huge D on each stamp, and the 3-value Christmas issue (12c, 24c, $1•20) with the top value appearing only on the m/s and the stamps not listed in Gibbons. Falkland Islands also came from Nigel Steer - 40 cigarette cards which make up a flying boat and the 1929 and 1933 Definitives. Ron Carter showed PPC, including the East Indiaman sunk off Bulverhythe, Ecclesboume, Eastbourne (various), Isle of Wight Ferry, Fishermen, Fighters. Graham Little rounded things off with Definitives from Aden, Barbados, Cayman, Cyprus, Gold Coast, India, KUT, Nigeria, Nyasaland (2 sets), S Rhodesia, Sudan, Trinidad & Tobago. jmw 3rd November In a change to the advertised programme, Brian Stalker showed us his collection of Mail by Rail on the Great Western Railway of Canada. The first half spanned the period from 1853 to the 1880s, during which the GWR was an independent company - on 17th January 1854 the first train to cover the 227 miles between Niagara Falls and Windsor (Southern Ontario) arrived at Windsor, then the westernmost station in Canada, having taken 8-10 hours via Hamilton and London compared to four days pre-railway. The first railway post office in North America commenced operating between Niagara Falls and London in January 1854, and from that developed Canada's Railway Mail Service, a Post Office branch employing almost 1400 mail clerks a century later. Each end of the GWR main line connected to American railways; to Niagara Falls, New York State via a suspension bridge across the Niagara River at the eastern end, and to Detroit by ferry-boat across the Detroit River at the western end. Thus the GWR carried American through-mail as well as Canadian mail. Mail Cars also operated on GWR branch lines to Toronto, Sarnia and on the Air-line Railway, and interchange depots were established at Paris, Hamilton and London to facilitate the exchange of mail between railway post offices operated by the GWR and other companies. The second half of the evening covered the period from the mid 1880s, by which time the GWR had been taken over by the Grand Trunk Railway, through to the late 1960s when RPO services were withdrawn. Brian followed the general structure of the first half in that he began with the GWR's main line route and continued with the Toronto, Air-Line and Sarnia branch line routes. However, all postmarks in this period showed postal-run termini rather than the name of the railway company and also include the letters RPO, RyPO, MC or PC (for Railway Post Office, Mail Car or Postal Car). Some included the initials GTR, or, after the absorption of the Grand Trunk into the Canadian National Railways in the early 1920s, the initials CNR. Brian's display concluded by paying tribute to the Railway Mail Clerks, the elite employees of the Canadian Post Office. (This report was prepared by Brian, who is the pre-eminent collector of this material in this country. Had the report been written by someone else, it would have made reference to the research involved in this display, and the superb quality of both material and presentation.) jmw 17th November The Charity Auction in aid of St. Wilfrid's Hospice did not, sadly, go as well as had been hoped. This was supposed to be a joint venture with Heathfield P.S. and Seaford P.S., but those two Societies had no members in the room to bid (other than those who were also members of E&SDPS) which was disappointing. Star item was lot #84, the "Field's Airmail Stamp catalogue, 1st edition", of 1931. Estimated at £2, there was considerable competition, the item eventually being knocked down at £21. Another good lot was #186, the New Zealand 1994 Stamp Year Pack, catalogued £90+, estimate £9, which realised £18, while lot #36, GB embossed 6d(3) and 1/-, together with 5 stationery cut-outs made £24 (estimate £9). 68 (28.45%) of the 239 lots did not sell, the total realisation by my count being £496. Whilst I am not a thematic collector, I was surprised that nobody wanted Art or Cats or Sports or Music... jmw 24th November It was most encouraging to see there were 5 entries for the Postal History Competition, all of which (said judges John Griffin and Richard Tarrant) would have been worthy winners against less strong opposition. Placed first was John Wright with Canada, 1911 - 1928, with Brian Stalker second (Bona Vista Coastal Mail Services and Routes, 1899 -1931), and Angela Reilly third with Hotel Mail 1889 - 1934. Alan Parsons (Malta, 1811 - 1884) and Ken Santer (Great Britain, Selection of Postal Markings and Stamps that can be found up to the Reign of Queen Victoria were not separated by the Judges. While the judging was taking place, we worked on some more "Dingbats" provided by Shirley Gordon (some very difficult!). Peter Burridge opened his Egg Cup entry by reminding us that Thailand used to be called Siam, and that Ghana was once Gold Coast - he asked us what was the previous name of Iceland, which question puzzled many of us until we were given the answer - Bejam! Peter travelled to Iceland in 2000 via Stanstead (dreadful journey) then to Reykjavik (good) for a 4-day break, one of the sights being the skeleton of a Viking boat on the beach. He feared that a coach trip to see the geysers and hot springs would be with a guide who spoke no English, but this was with Bill from Torquay who had married an Icelandic girl, so no problem! He also went on a whale watching cruise (no luck). Peter had bought from a one-time member of this Society a splendid collection of Icelandic FDC, almost certainly (from their condition) supplied by their Bureau and sent under separate cover), 140 in all, from 1992-2003 and complemented this with numerous photographs which he had taken. Did you know that Iceland is a very expensive country (about £5 for a pint of beer); that water from the hot springs is piped miles to homes with only a 2°C drop in temperature; and that almost every building has a corrugated iron roof and walls? Thank you, Peter, for an interesting display (Bejam, indeed!) jmw 26th November To celebrate to the 75th Anniversary of the Society, a Stamp Fair was held at the excellent Victoria Baptist Church Hall, Eldon Road. A large Hall, with plenty of parking, fine kitchen facilities, warm, and with very good lighting. What more could one want from a venue? 9 dealers present (one called off the night before with 'flu) and the venue could have accommodated more. Stephen Lloyd, MP for Eastbourne, opened the Fair, which could safely be described a great success. Will it be repeated? Perhaps, but a lot of hard work involved. A message was read out at the meeting on 1st December from President Graham Little (unable to be at that meeting, warmly thanking all those who had helped make the Fair go so well, and at the Christmas Party on 8th December, Graham presented a bouquet to Anita Robbins who had made a very early start on the morning of the Fair, making sandwiches, preparing filled rolls, etc., to feed the workers and customers. Thank you Anita (and you're not even a member!).  Download 1.26 Mb. Share with your friends:
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