Having produced the November Newsletter earlier than usual, this report starts with the visit from Cardiff at the end of October. We had six visitors showing British Central Africa postal stationery, Livingstone and Stanley, Southern Rhodesia, Aden, British Solomon Islands and Baltic States.

David Hooper was our first guest speaker of the season, His GB miscellany showed some of the advantages of being both a dealer and collector. We try to have a double-handed evening once a year. This time it was the turn of Bernie Riff and Chris Noton, who showed Leipzig and Meteorology. The Christmas meeting was the regular ladies and social evening, where Chris Baker, Diane Cannard and Gwen Hussey provided the entertainment and the "men" provided the food.

We started the New Year with a letter "S" evening, which resulted in a lot of ingenuity from the members. The second meeting in January was "5 sheets or 50p", which resulted in 18 displays from members and little joy for out treasurer.

The social philately evening was quite a challenge and showed how difficult it is to present material in this new fashion. I will mention the competition later and move on to the chairman's night, in March, when Alistair Mackinnon entertained with more material from the far south. The annual auction provided a lot of entertainment.

The visit by five members of the Barry club brought us displays on Aviation in the Channel Islands, New Zealand Hospital Ships, sea post and early Malaya Airmail.

The library evening allowed all members to bring along their most useful books and other paraphernalia. Our librarian, Gwen Hussey also brought along the club library books and gave each member a list of the stock.

Eric Holmes of the Gibraltar Study Circle entertained members for the last meeting before the annual general meeting. He concentrated on the pre-stamp material, including the forwarding agents and ended with stamps up to George V.

Gwen, Alistair, Roy, roger and I visited Bridgend in March, displaying mail by sea, Ross Dependency, British Islands, Harrison packs and Heidenheim twinning. The club also visited Cardiff in March, when Gwen and Alistair reprised their Bridgend displays, Roy showed Herm and I showed Greenland. I also gave a display on the Faroe Islands to Cardiff British Rail Club

Please note that we will be visiting Barry stamp club on 19 July 2004.

This date has changed a couple of times.

Please note that this is the agreed date.

Numbers of entries were once again a bit low but there was something for all classes:

GB stamps: British Miniature Sheets (the Brace Shield for Chris Baker) & British Postal Strike (Chris Noton)

General: Poland issues by Czeslaw Slania (the Ewing Rose Bowl for John Perry), Penny Reds (Chris Baker), Gibraltar 1960 Definitives (Dennis Martin) & Mail from Male/ Maldives (Chris Noton)

Thematic: Hurricanes (Pegler Cup for Chris Noton)

Postal history: Monmouthshire to 1841 (James Cup for John Perry)

The Heidenheim Medal for the best Novice entry went to Chris Baker

The second part of the judging course finally took place in April, three years after the first part. Two ABPS judges provided the training for 14 members from South Wales clubs. John Perry, Gwen Hussey and George Whitfield represented Newport. All 14 participants were accredited as a result of the day. we can now judge at regional level.

The annual convention was in Port Talbot, as usual. Newport send three entries for the competition and won two awards, the first time we have won more than one at a convention. Dennis Martin took the aviation prize and a silver medal with Gibraltar. John Perry won the general class and a silver medal with his display of Poland issues by Czeslaw Slania and also gained a bronze medal for his Monmouthshire Postal History to 1841. The best entry in show was Geoff Cooper's Mauritius Postal History, which gained a gold medal.

The renewal of the club membership of the Newport/ Heidenheim Twinning Association for 2004 is due. The association meets once a month at the Civic Centre. We have copies of the minutes of all of these meetings

Chris Doble's Dragon Fairs are at the Jury's Hotel in Cardiff on the first Friday in each month. Fairs coming up are on 4 June, 2 July, 6 August and 3 September 2004

The Cardiff Stamp Fairs at the City Hall run by AMP Fairs continue with events on 5 June and 10 July 2004 All start at 10:00 a.m.

Anne Scott continues her Bristol postcard fairs at the BAWA centre. Remaining fairs for 2004 are: 6 June, 1 August, 2 October and 11 December 2004.

The South Wales Postcard Club now runs two fairs each year, in April and October.

Barry stamp club will be running its annual fair at Barry Comprehensive School on 29 May 2004.

The date for the Autumn Fair in Newport is 9 October. we have chosen the Maes Ebbw School as the venue. This is just off Cardiff Road in Newport, less that 1 mile from the M4 Junction 28. This is mainly for the clubs in the Federation to run their own tables but we will have some dealers, including Chris Doble, Cover Love and Dave and Coral Westcott. More details to follow.

The Friends of Newport Transporter Bridge (FONTB) have approached Royal Mail to ask for a special stamp to commemorate the centenary of the bridge in 2006. It is unlikely that a stamp will be issued but let us hope that at least a postmark can be arranged.

While visiting Brighton earlier this year, I paid a trip to the stamp and postcard shops, including Gustamps, where I managed to fill a couple of gaps in my RAF covers collection. I also bought a copy of the Welsh Language version of the Princess Diana memorial presentation pack, which I missed out on at the time. I also got information about the pack and the way that the price has been rocketing upwards. Who is to say whether this rise will be sustained or whether it will fall back to earth as so many modern stamps have done. It is however a rare item, mainly because it was not promoted by Royal Mail when they were forced to print it by the Welsh Language Board. Only 6,500 copies were produced and it is still the only presentation pack printed in Welsh.

The South Wales Argus has been full of articles in recent months about the closure of post offices in the area but nothing about any new offices opening. I hope to include more information in the next newsletter.