Scout and Guide Stamps Club BULLETIN Volume 54 No. 4 (Whole No. 312) Guiding Centenary stamps from Jersey JULY/AUGUST 2010 1 Editorial Firstly, my apologies for the delay in getting the MAY/JUNE issue of the Bulletin out to you all. I worked on this before my planned holiday and delivered the completed document on disc to the printer at the end of the first week in June. Arrangements had been agreed with Bernard Tewksbury for him to collect the finished items, pack them and then return them to the printer for posting. Well, as they say the best laid plans, etc. Unfortunately the printer suffered several major problems with the printing machine, which meant that he was only managing to finish about 10 copies at a time before the machine failed. After three weeks of trying to cure the problem they abandoned the machine and agreed to purchase a replacement. Once this arrived there was a learning curve on printing the booklets and so when I arrived back the printing had only just been finished and the packing and dispatch were then handled as a matter of urgency. Hopefully the new machine will mean that you will get this issue in a reasonable time. As you will no doubt recall, in 2007 we shared a base / stand with the International Badgers Club at the World Jamboree. This was so successful that we hoped to repeat the exercise for Sweden in 2011. However, at this moment, despite numerous approaches to the Jamboree authorities neither of us has received any communication and so it looks as if we are not wanted. This does seem a shame as certainly the swapping area outside of our marquee in 2007 was one of the more popular places on the whole site. I will end this editorial with a request for more articles. There are still some in my stock but it would be nice to get a few more so that there are some in reserve. How about something different - like why we are not wanted at World Jamborees!! Terry Simister ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ FUTURE COPY DATES September 19th and November 21st Please send copy, including photos, electronically - where possible. ***************************************************************** Future meetings and Venues Just a reminder of forthcoming Club Meetings to be held in the UK:- Rooms have been booked at Philatex for Club meetings as follows: 2010 6th November Starting at 13.15pm to 14.45pm - Room 23 These meetings will be fully open to Club members with any Committee business being discussed prior to the meeting, as necessary. 2 Chairman’s Notes by Melvyn Gallagher It is with some measure of reticence that I have agreed to take on the mantle of Club Chairman (yes, Chairman not chair, which is something you sit upon!) following, as I do, in the footsteps of John Ineson a Scouting philatelist of international renown and whose recent award of the Silver Wolf credited his work for our Club in the citation. At present our hobby, like many others, is not as popular with young people as it was in more halcyon days when there was not the plethora of other more trendy activities available to them, such as computer games, Facebook and, perhaps, an over emphasis on achieving sporting and academic prowess. Like the difference between taking snaps and photographs we have collectors and philatelists, most of the club members falling into the former category collecting for fun rather than profit or undertaking serious research and exhibiting at major exhibitions. Our philatelists publish their research and are helping us collectors, who see their wonderful collections displayed, at learning a great deal about our hobby with information that can be passed on to other collectors or in basic displays for young people to enjoy and learn from at Group level. Hopefully this will encourage youngsters to start collecting and join our Club either as an individual or as a Troop, Pack, Colony or Company or other section. Our members should not be afraid to get out and attend our Club meetings where we exchange knowledge in a friendly environment and as at present they are held at PHILATEX in central London members have the added bonus of being able to see other collections and add to their albums too. ***************************************************************** From Ron Sambell The interest in Scouting Handstamps has prompted me into looking rather more closely at my other Australian ones. Attached is a scan that may also be of interest and perhaps add to the history of these Jamborees. The handstamp is the one used at the Pan-Pacific Jamboree at Yarra Brae between 29th Dec 1948 and 9th Jan 1949. The cachet marks the 'Inauguration of Post Office'. The cancel is dated 27 De 48 which suggests the Post Office opened 2 days prior to the Jamboree. I don't know whether this observation has any value. 3 John’s Jottings by John Ineson As you will read in other reports, the Euro-Scout exhibition in Chelmsford was a great success, and we were pleased to welcome many of our U.K. and overseas members. From outside Europe visitors included Dr William Wells from Australia, Randall Frank, Lawrence Clay and Phil Edwards from the United States, Alex Hadden from Canada and Franklin Kuperman from Brazil. I would like to thank Terry Simister, Melvyn Gallagher and Peter Duck who were on our sub-committee for Euro-Scout and for attending the ten preliminary meetings. All the committee supported the event in many ways. The next Euro-Scout will be held at Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Germany over the weekend of 28-30 September 2012 and for the first time, the Walter Grob Award (in memory of the late Walter Grob of Switzer- land) will be awarded with a prize of 500 Swiss Francs. The criteria for this award are that the display must be a first time exhibit and that it should not have taken part in a former competition or shows such as Euro-Scout. To recuperate from the Euro-Scout exhibition I went on holiday to Warsaw and Krakow in Poland as my interest includes the 1944 Scout Postal Service during Warsaw Uprising. The idea of the Museum to commemorate this tragic event started in 1983, but no construction work took place for many years, and the museum finally opened on July 31, 2004, marking the 60th anniversary of the Uprising. A room was set aside in the museum to show the hundreds of letters and notes sent during the uprising and delivered by the Boy Scouts, and although they were photocopies on the four walls, they showed the Scout cancellations of that period. The museum collects and maintains hundreds of artifacts, ranging from weapons used by the insurgents to love letters, in order to present a full picture of the people involved. The Museum's stated goals include the creation of an archive of historical information on the Uprising and the recording of the stories and memories of the still living Uprising participants. Sold at a recent sale by Grosvenor Auctions in London, was the very scarce Nigeria 1963 World Jamboree Miniature sheet with the red printing omitted on the 3d value. Printed in England by Harrison & Sons Ltd, the Scout badge, Nigeria and the value were missing. Sold for £800 (€ 905, US$ 1150) plus 19.975% buyer’s premium, against the estimate of£600-£800. I see from my records that a similar one was sold by Stanley Gibbons Auction in June 1981 for £280 plus 8% buyer’s premium making a total of £302. I thought this may have been the same miniature sheet, but from the position of the perforations, I can see that this was not so. Also at the same auction were a number of India Rocket covers and other paper ephemera. A postcard sent by Rocket No. 139 and given the name of “Lord Baden-Powell” made £500 plus buyers premium, while cover No. 134 “Dr R. Paganini” made £450. 4 Since the Euro-Scout meeting, our club held our Annual General Meeting on the Scout Ship The Lord Amory which is the Headquarters of the Docklands Scout Project in the West India Docks in London. At this meeting I retired from being Chairman and am delighted to report that Melvyn Gallagher has taken my place. With the recent death of our member No.6, Norman Read from Bournemouth, I am now the longest serving member, having been allocated number 56 in September 1957. Those in the U.K. who collect Scout covers will no doubt have had a problem with the transparent self adhesive photo corners that are now sold by Boots, Smiths and Dixons etc. Although they used to be very good, today they are very small, and although may be suitable for photographs, are not much good for covers. I did buy at a recent stamp fair, some corners produced by Prinz at £4.95 for 250 mounts but although they are better than those sold by the chain stores, they are not as good as those produced by Henzo. These are made in Denmark and are of archival quality and on the Internet cost £3.49 for 500 (Ref No. 18309). They are also available in 250 and 1000 lots and are highly recommended at www.henzo-albums- uk.com/accessories/photo-mounts.htm I was sorry to read in the Picture Postcard Monthly the obituary to Michael Goodman who died in June. He was a most knowledgeable postal historian, and was to be seen at Stampex, Postal History and Postcard fairs. Many of the scarce U.K.