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Redditch Philatelic Society At the centre of Midlands’ philately Halcyon The Newsletter of the Redditch Philatelic Society – No 16: Spring 2012. From the Chairman The President’s Piece Spring seems to be At the recent Annual General here at last and as Meeting, I was honoured to one of my teachers be elected your Society was fond of saying “ President - not for the first … a young man’s time, but at least a second fancy turns towards and possibly a third! I am thoughts of oiling his sure one of our statistics cricket bat”. However, members will be able to I am not cricketer, so my thoughts have been produce a definitive answer turning towards thoughts of improving my philatelic to that conundrum. collections and, in particular, considering my competition entries. I know competitions are not Firstly I must thank Richard Nicol for his Presidency. everyone’s cup of tea, but I do like the thought of I know that even in “retirement” Richard will continue turning part of my meagre collection into something to involve himself in all of the things we get up to. which is attractive to look at, interesting to read and Like Richard, as President I do not intend to sit back which some judges rate as worthy of a gold, silver or and wear a chain (even if we possessed one). I am (in my case, usually) bronze award. There is fully committed to playing as full a part as possible in Society activities. currently a debate in the stamp press about whether you must have an expensive or valuable collection We have an excellent meeting venue, and a varied in order to succeed in national competitions. The annual programme. We host speakers on far majority of scoring criteria allocate at least 20% of ranging subjects who bring along many excellent the marks to “rarity”. Unfortunately, many judges displays for us to look at. Our bi-monthly meetings will confuse “rarity” with “value” and hence the are well attended, regularly with over two thirds of dissatisfaction often with national competitions. the membership being present; and in the last year Each competition entrant needs to be very clear in or so, we have attracted some new members. It is his/her write-up to identify the scarce and possibly clear that what we are doing, we are doing it right. unique items and lead the judge to them. The time available to a judge to study one entry is extremely The Society’s philosophy has always been based limited (perhaps only 3 minutes), therefore the judge upon ‘doing’ rather than waiting for it to be done, must be led straight to the items you consider are and I would wish that we all continue that theme. It important. You can identify these on your first page has stood us in good stead for many years and or use colour coding to highlight them. Obviously a many other Societies envy, and try to emulate, quite phrase like “only 2 copies known” gives a judge a lot of the things we do. We visit other Societies more information than just describing an item as with a format of multiple speakers, and many “very rare”, and “unique” is an almost impossible Societies have now followed this lead. Years ago adjective to justify. Give it a try. our annual Auctions stimulated other Societies to also have a go, and our Fairs, admittedly almost At the end of December we learned the sad news of impossible to stage nowadays, have always the death of our secretary, Fred Pritchard. Fred had attracted considerably more visitors than acted as secretary for the Society, and the Three comparable events elsewhere. Counties Federation, for very many years and in his Such is the outside view of our Society that we can quiet unassuming way could always be relied upon. be proud to belong to it. As long as we all continue In particular, he was a real asset to the committee, to ‘do’, we can maintain our hard won place in this producing agendas and minutes, compiling Club wonderful hobby of ours. Championship scores, dealing with correspondence, offering advice and whatever else needed to be I look forward to acting again as your next President done, efficiently and accurately. Always cheerful and helping to keep the Society going forwards for and with a keen sense of humour, he will be sadly all of our benefit. missed by us all. Alan Godfrey Malcolm Allinson Society Newsletter Spring 2012 Copyright © Redditch Philatelic Society 2012 Redditch Philatelic Society At the centre of Midlands’ philately FRED PRITCHARD 19 th September 1934 to 27 th December 2011 His collection of Malta stamps was complete, or so complete that any missing ones were not to worry Sadly, I have to report that Fred Pritchard, our long- about. Some years ago I remember how thrilled he standing Secretary, passed away just after was to buy the first Malta stamp. Fred branched out Christmas after a long illness. into the world of postal history as the stamp side of collecting slowed down, accumulating a vast array of postmarks from the island Post Offices including from many places where only very few examples exist. In order to help with more knowledge of his subject , Fred joined the Malta Study Circle in 1982 and this has surely helped him to make his collection into something special. Over the years Fred entered many Society and Federation competitions and in 2009 achieved a Gold medal with his entry of Early Postmarks of Malta – some items in the display would easily grace a national or international exhibit. I said earlier that Fred joined the Society in 1977. It I first met Fred when he joined the Philatelic Society did not take long for him to join the Committee and in 1977, and in all time that I knew him, he was a then take on the Secretary’s job in 1979; longevity in most amiable person to have around. these roles seems to be normal in our Society, as Fred was still our Secretary when he passed away. Fred started collecting stamps at an early age He took a sabbatical from Office in 1991, but that because it involved less activity than playing cricket, was only to become Hon. Secretary of the Three football or rugby. Pocket money was supplemented Counties Federation. He returned to being our by doing various chores at home to help out, whilst Secretary in 1999, the plan being that the his parents ran a busy shop in Ladywood – an Federation was about to wind up and would no unusual combination of a hairdressers and selling longer need a Secretary. Plans being plans, meant fishing tackle. In those days stamp shops were that the Federation was not wound up as thought, more prolific and Fred keenly bought many packets and so for a couple of years Fred was Secretary to of stamps from his local shop near to Five Ways in both organisations. For the many years Fred held Birmingham. our Secretary’s role, he was honoured recently by the Midland Philatelic Federation with a Certificate Of course as he grew older, other interests took of Recognition for his unstinting services to Stamp over – youth clubs and girls being the two main collecting. ones – and then National Service stifled any collecting at all for a while. As with many young A more personal memory is of recently offering Fred collectors, the hobby gets sidelined as family takes a lift home from a Society meeting, then promptly a more important role, and this was no different with (and accidentally) leaving him behind. I know that I Fred. Marrying Margaret, setting up a home and will never be allowed to forget that. starting a family took it’s toll on the stamp albums, until Fred’s younger brother, Alex, suggested they I asked Fred once what he would be if he didn’t both join a stamp club and he could start collecting collect stamps. His immediate answer was “Rich”, again. Alex, must have had an ulterior motive here, clearly demonstrating his fun attitude to our hobby because Fred gave him all of his Great Britain and life. But of course Fred was rich; rich in family stamps to set him going, and then had to find his and rich in friends, amply demonstrated by so many own area of collecting. of us, together with our partners, who attended Fred’s funeral at Redditch Crematorium, where even Most people seem to fall into a collecting specialism standing room was at a premium. by accident. Not Fred. His eventual choice of Malta came about after a peculiarly rational process of A laugh and a smile was never far away when in elimination; it must have been because of Fred’s Fred’s company and we will all miss that. accountancy background. For his National Service, Malcolm Allinson Fred had been posted to Egypt. So he bought a packet of stamps and decided that he would collect a country that he had been to during his time abroad that WASN’T in the packet of stamps. The only country that wasn’t represented in that packet of stamps was Malta, visited briefly during a refuelling stop on Fred’s return to England after his National Service. Malta SG1: One halfpenny buff brown Society Newsletter Spring 2012 Copyright © Redditch Philatelic Society 2012 Redditch Philatelic Society At the centre of Midlands’ philately EDITORIAL MEETING REPORTS Welcome to the latest edition of Halcyon . Thursday 5th January 2012 Annual 9 sheet competitions We were in the enviable position to have some articles left over from the last Newsletter at We began 2012 with our Annual Society Christmas, so it makes a good start to this edition.
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