Welcome to new members Viv Jones, Guy Hall and Henry Morgan. Good also to see Bernie Riff back in circulation. Best wishes to Peter Butcher who has been in hospital for a few weeks.

Congratulations to Neil Jones who won the prize for the Federation Christmas competition.

This has been a very busy few months with a wide range of meetings. November started with Peter Coldrey showing Greenock postal history including the steamer routes along and off the Clyde. Roy Hollis brought an incredible range of material along for the dealer evening and tempted many of us to part with our money. Even those not buying enjoyed the chance to browse through Roy’s world of Cover Love. For the ladies and Christmas evening we welcomed Kay Williams (from the stamp shop in Newport market) and were treated to displays of Germany and stained glass from Gwen Hussey and medical stamps and the "Stamp" family from Diane Cannard.

The letter O brought a wide display including owls, overprints and ocean liners. I missed the Norman Hargreaves/ Ken Wilmott double bill but had a private showing of Norman’s European organisations. I hope to see Ken Norfolk Islands later. Alistair McKinnon brought along a slide show of his recent trip to Southern Africa, connecting stamps with pictures from his holiday.

The guest speaker for the first March meeting was John Harding with a feast of Uruguay. This was not John’s main collecting area of Gibraltar but with Dennis Martin’s Gibraltar evening coming up, it gave John a chance to air some more exotic material

The dinner was at the Royal Oak in Chepstow Road. Very good food and a pleasant dining room. The 20 members and guests had a very good time.

The auction was organised by Ron Hardacre. With lots from other clubs and several postal bids and room bids from visitors the items sold well. Much hard work resulted in 50% of lots being sold and a request to do the same next year (any volunteers?).

The Bridgend visit brought in the crowd. We had no less than seven displays: Mike Styles (Windsor); Barbara Boscott (frogs and toads); Maureen Philips (Canada 97/98 – new material that is not often seen); Alf Bryan (RAF museum); Nigel McGaw (British troops in Russia 1918/19); Nancy Wornum (family history); and Ron Gregory (liners on postcards)

In exchange we have visited Barry and Cardiff. Thanks to all of the members who helped make a success of these visits.

The club competition had fewer entries but the quality was high. Neil Jones won the general class with his New Zealand Victory material. Dennis Martin’s Gibraltar George VI and George Whitfield’s Jamaica completed the class. There was only one GB entry (Dennis Martin’s architecture, which was also the best 8 sheet entry). John Perry’s Denmark sea-mail was the only postal history entry. He also won the thematic class with his display of Tomas Masaryk (the founder of modern Czechoslovakia). The two other entries in this class were from Diane Cannard (Disasters and Owls).

Please start preparing now for next year.

Four entries went through to the convention on 15 April in Port Talbot. These gained a first in class and silver medal for Dennis’s Gibraltar and three bronze medals (Danish sea-mail, Masaryk and Disasters).

The club also put in a non-competitive entry: Four by four. This display was four sheets by each of four members with aspects on GB philately (Architecture from Dennis’ local competition entry, islands from Roy Bentley, Newport postal history from Martyn Britton and Heidenheim Twinning from John Perry).

I missed the Convention due to a business trip to Riga but several members made the trip to Port Talbot. The next convention is again in Port Talbot, on 5 May 2001.

The autumn day is also in Port Talbot, on 30 September 2000 at the Taibach Community Centre, off Margam Road.

Other news: Mary Lennox sadly passed away on New Year’s day.

Please remember we are members. You should have a membership card, which gives discounts. Please ask if you have missed out.

It has been a fairly quiet time for stamp fairs, although Robert Neill did arrange one for Newport early in the year. There was a good turnout of dealers of both stamps and postcards but not too many paying customers. The next fair in Newport is on 4 June, at the Holiday Inn (The Coldra, M4 junction 24).

The Cardiff fair, now also run by Robert, is firmly back in the City Hall. The next dates are 13 May and 8 July.

Chris Doble’s Dragon fairs are held on Fridays at the Juries Hotel in Cardiff. Dates in 2000 are 5 May, 2 June, 14 July, 4 August, 8 September, 6 October, 3 November and 8 December.

A final reminder: the London International Stamp Show is at Earl's Court from 22 to 28 May 2000. Free tickets are available: all you have to do is get there.

There were some plans to have a millennium cover for the friendship clubs. St Polten (Austria) was arranging this on behalf of Heidenheim, Dobeln, Newport, Sisak, Clichy and St Gilles. No more details yet. The next Heidenheim fair is on 13 –15 October. Newport members are invited.

We have links to other sites. Those of you with computers (or actually looking at this on the web) might like to try:

Most specialist societies and post offices are to be found. Also there are many sites of special interest. Two favourites of mine are:

For local (South Wales) interest you can try:

John Perry

Honorary Secretary