The Bulletin of the Civil Service Philatelic Society
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kkkk The Bulletin of the Founded 1948 Civil Service Philatelic Society No. 454 February / March 2019 Society website http://www.mynetservices.co.uk/csps/ Society e-mail: [email protected] Editor’s Introduction Welcome to the latest Bulletin and firstly an apology from me for the delay in producing our 70th Anniversary edition which I had hoped to complete for sending to Members in October. I hope it was worth waiting for and that you found something of interest to read. The delay to the special edition has had a knock on effect to this edition as well, which is a few weeks late but hopefully normal service will resume for the July Bulletin. The Society is sorry to hear of the passing of Trevor Willes. Margaret GB stamp programme for the rest of 2019 There seems to have been some secrecy concerning the Royal Mail Stamp Programme for this year and as 2018 drew to a close it was difficult to find any details. Even at the time of writing in late February one of the issues is still marked as to be announced. Queen Victoria and D-Day seem to be the only anniversaries to be marked by a stamp issue. The D day issue features again on page 16. April: Birds of Prey May: British Engineering May: Queen Victoria Bicentenary June: D-Day July: Curious Customs August: Forests September: Royal Navy Ships October: To be announced November: Christmas On 25th March new postage rates come into force. Basic First Class rises from 67 to 70 pence and second class from 58 to 61 pence, with large letters rising to £1.01 and 83 pence respectively. At the time of writing no new Post and Go pictorial designs are planned for issue and there si some more information on these stamps on page 18. 1 What you missed at recent meetings….. 2nd July 2018 Members’ Displays Apologies were received from Mick Coad and Eddie Weeks. The Society is grateful to Members for bringing in items to display. Mike Blackman: Mike started by saying that the CSPS had been celebrating an important anniversary and that it set him thinking, realising that he had been collecting mainly on a theme rather than by country for 50 years! This happened by chance as Mike had at that time a general collection arranged alphabetically by country and largely created from Woolworth’s packets, with a few countries developed with help from local stamp shops By 1968, it had stalled due to other priorities like getting a qualification and a job and then while working in the Holborn area of London, one lunchtime Mike went with a friend to a stamp shop in the nearby Sicilian Arcade. The friend knew what he wanted and Mike went along not expecting to buy anything, but flicked through some loose stamps for a few coppers each and spotted some attractive Spanish stamps with the coats of arms of the provinces. It turned out that the stamps were coming out at one each month over about 4 years and Mike was hooked! He gradually learnt about the symbolism and language of heraldry as he accumulated stamps, postmarks, meter marks and postcards. It largely petered out in the 1990s and has not been updated since but a few sheets of heraldry were displayed. Also largely by chance, Mike started a new topic in the late 1980s, umbrellas and parasols and this was displayed to the Society a few months back, stemming from Mike having to get up to speed on the technology for producing umbrellas and parasols as part of his work in the Patent Office. The technology is not very exciting we are told, but the books Mike read had much information on their use as symbols, going back thousands of years. A few sheets were displayed. The next topic Mike developed was on transporter bridges as he had to work in Newport, South Wales for 5 years and it has one of these very rare bridges in good working order. There are a handful of stamps showing these bridges, also known as aerial ferries, and rather more postcards. In his display for the 70th Anniversary, Mike explored his home town of Beckenham and on this occasion a few postcards and photos were shown. Mike has added the following comments. This was a 50 year personal story, but that thematic philately itself has of course developed enormously in this country. From a very minor and often not much respected aspect of the hobby it now has a regular place in club displays and national exhibitions, and has its own Society, the British Thematic Association. A final thought is that to survive perhaps philatelic societies may have to widen their scope to include postcards, as many already do, and other paper collectibles such as invoices and letters. And maybe even wider still to ‘small collectables’ for want of a better expression. The final items in the display were a group of small porcelain items decorated with coats of arms, collected due to the interest in heraldry. Researching their origins, manufacturers and so on became a hobby in itself. Many are exact miniature replicas of ancient pots, jugs etc by the main manufacturer, W H Goss, and described as such on their bases. For quite some time in the late 19th century and early 20th century, they were very popular as souvenirs of holidays or people could collect different items with their local town coat of arms. Mike displayed a few pots and jugs, a practical item, candle snuffers, which do work, and finally a crossover 2 between Mike’s heraldry and umbrella interests, small china umbrellas with coats of arms. Margaret Emerson: This was a two part display, the first consisted of recent Post and Go issues which were for Royal Mail heritage. The Post and Go sets were entitled, mail by sea, mail by rail, mail by air and mail by bicycle. The second part of the display was of the New Zealand Centenary issue which was displayed in blocks and imprint blocks. Mile Thatcher: Mike displayed a number of postcards showing the Derry and Toms Roof Garden which was built between 1933 and 1938 at a cost of £25,000. Opened in 1938 and covering 1.5 acres, at that time it cost a shilling to enter. The postcards were issued for the Comfort Fund in World War II. There were three gardens, Tudor, Spanish and Woodland and the latter had 100 trees. Other cards were issued for the Festival of Britain but Mike has not seen these. The garden is Grade II listed. The roof has three feet of soil, so little depth for the 30 species of trees, which are now 60 years old. The gardens can be rented for events but have now closed to the public. The Tea Pavilion has been replaced with a night club. Fin o’ Donoghue: This display consisted of a number of sheets for various countries covering issues from 1970 so a link to 70. Fin had originally tried to find issues for countries to spell out anniversary. Austria had 3 sheets including clocks and dance sets and France another 3 sheets. Germany had 5, Israel 5 with all the stamps having tabs and these issues included animals. Italy had 2 sheets as did the Netherlands. Russia yielded 11 sheets including issues for Stalin and flowers. Spain had 5 sheets and Sweden 6 including several birds. Bob van Goethem: The first display of 10 sheets by Bob was for the American Space Age and specifically the Gemini Space Programme covering Gemini 1 to Gemini 8, also known as Agena. Gemini 1 was launched from Cape. Kennedy on 8th April 1964 and completed 64 orbits. Gemini 2 launched on 19th January 1965 after a delay from the planned launch on 9th December, due to a hydraulic fault. This mission lasted 18 minutes and 16 seconds, reached a height of 98.8 miles and was a test of recovery. Gemini 3 launched on 23rd March 1965 was the first manned mission and a test was carried out of altering an orbit and making manoeuvres. Gemini 4 with 2 astronauts launched on 3rd June 1965 and laned on 7th June so was in space with the crew for 4 days. Gemini 5 with 2 astronauts launched 19th August 1965 and landed on 29th August. This mission tested rendeyvous and link up but some trials were abandoned. For Gemini 6, Bob displayed two covers showing recovery Vessels. G This mission was rescheduled after the target failed to launch and was called Gemini 6a. it was a one day flight and the craft stayed on station keeping for 5 hours and 18 minutes. Gemini 7 launched 4th December 1965 and the mission lasted two weeks. Rendezvous sessions took place and medical tests. The mission lasting 13 days 18 hours and 35 minutes and was a flying record at that time. Gemini 8 launched in March 1966 lasted 10 hours 41 minutes and one astronaut was Neil Armstrong. Docking was tested but there were electrical faults and control issues. A cover with a facsimile signature was shown. Bob van Goethem: The second contribution from Bob consisted of amusing or out of the ordinary pictures from newspapers of animals and birds. The display included a weasel taking a ride on the back of green woodpecker and jackdaws removing wool from a sheep, a crow hitching a loft on a bald eagle and a cuckoo chick being fed by a massively smaller dunnock. A police horse was shown half on a London bus, squirrels in funny poses and a raccoon who recently made the news as it climbed the outside of a 25 storey building in Minnesota, a feat that took 24 hours.