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December

The last meeting of the year on the theme “Other Hobbies” revealed some interesting displays with material including members works of art , Goss china, Coins, Sheet music, and a collection of bibles among other things. All rounded off with a glass of wine and some tasty snacks.

November 14th Anne Stammers and Bob Clements visit from Henley on Thames

Anne Stammers opened with a display of Rocks to Riches. Ann has spent much of her working career in Hatton Garden and has a keen interest in Diamonds as well as other Jewels and rocks Anne is well travelled and explained how some of the rare stones and rocks were discovered, mined and auctioned as well as the people that owned them.

An amazing Thematic collection showing every aspect of this fascinating subject.



Bob Clements. Explained how the postal system developed through the ages starting with the Roman period involving a courier service which was capable of covering 50 to 100 miles per day through to the 9th century when no postal system existed at all to present day Royal Mail. Bob showed some wonderful covers , letters and stamps including poster size copies of Victorian stamps

October 10th.John Davis FRPLS 1890 Penny postage Jubilee.

John gave a very interesting and comprehensive account of the 1890 Penny post Jubilee, which was marked with celebrations by the name of cooonverszioni, at the London Guildhall and South Kensington museum.



Among the many letters, postal material and array of medals John gave us a detailed account of the occasion with the programmes, menus and correspondence.

July 11th

Eddie Spicer FRPLS German catapult mail of the North Atlantic.



In the late 20s and early30s several German ships were equipped with a catapult to enable sea planes to be launched from their decks. Which helped accelerate the delivery of mail across the Atlantic.



The display covered all aspects of the service from the first flight, catches used, examples of cancelled flights, , Postal rates, distances flown and many more aspects associated with this limited use of mail delivery which lasted for a relatively small space of time

June 27th

Members from Leighton Buzzard and Aylesbury philatelic societies enjoy a day at the new Postal Museum in London organised by our friend Cyril Parsons.

May 9th 2018

Loraine Maguire ; Steam railways of New Zealand.

Loraine took us on a journey around new Zealand via the steam Railways starting from when she was a child,

memories of her father’s passion for the railway that he worked on and loved sparked Loraine’s interest for the whole rail network that New Zealand was built on from 1840.



The first half took us through the North Island, followed by the south Island after a break for coffee. Her display included all things philatelic and many things otherwise.

Members made mention of Loraine’s enthusiasm for her subject which made for a really interesting and enjoyable evening.

April 11th Alan Williams.- Jamaica. –Land of wood and water.

Alan gave a comprehensive introduction to Jamaica and its postal service starting 1671.

It was the first British colony to have a postmaster in 1755, De La Rue printed the first stamps of Jamaica in 1860 with a unique Pineapple watermark, Among the many pre-stamp letters there were Postcards, Censored mail, material from both world war I and W.W.2. Air Mails and air letters, and stamp issues to 1968.

Ken Raimback

It is with sadness that we announce the recent passing of our dear friend and long-time member Ken Raimback.



Kens Funeral was held on Friday 16th March at 11.00am at Amersham Crematorium, The Hampden Chapel.





R.I.P

February 2018

This evening we were entertained by Cyril Parsons who gave us a power point display on the history and development of slogan postmarks and the machines and dies which were used to produce them combined with a display of copies of documents from the National Postal Museum.

As Cyril has been working as a volunteer at the Museum for many years and has been responsible for the identification and cataloguing of the dies used to produce slogan postmarks he is the world's leading expert on this subject. He has produced this display for presentation as part of the Museum's centenary exhibition and for Cyril it represents an interest which he acquired many years ago and which had a profound influence on his working life.



Cyril started with slogans from the Victorian era and covered six reigns of monarch up to the present day. It was a fascinating and entertaining evening which was very much appreciated by everyone present.

January 10th

The January 10th meeting gave members the chance to display items beginning with A,B,C,or D. Pictured is Martin Roper about to display items from his collection. A most entertaining evening.