Autumn Day

Saturday 29 September was the date of the South Wales Federation autumn day. This year, Newport was the host society, to coincide with the start of its 60^th year. The previous autumn day in Newport had been in 2004. The club chose the same venue, Maes Ebbw School, for the 2007 event. The day had a mixture of dealers and club tables. Thanks go to the school for providing excellent facilities, especially for the great refreshment area, and to Anne and Marilyn for “manning” the café all day. Chris Doble, Malcolm Harrington, Mark Grimlsey, Coral and Dave Westcott, and Roy Holliss provided the dealer support, while Barry, Cardiff, Carmarthen, Llannelli, Swansea, Port Talbot and, of course, Newport rented the club tables. There was also a display of Newport postal history from 1947 to date.

Celebrating 60 Years

The club started when on 16 October 1947 a meeting was held at 221 Caerleon Road Newport “by kind permission of Mr Meaker”. The name of the society adopted by the 14 people present that evening was the Newport (Mon) Philatelic Society. The programme for that first year still exists in the club records. The first named speaker was Mr Chappell who gave a display of Great Britain and its postal history on 4 March 1948.

As well as the 2007 autumn day, the club has produced a special “Smilers” sheet and postcard. The postcard is available in small quantities now to club members, with 39 postcards being franked with the special stamp and postmarked at Caldicot Delivery Office (NP26 4VV) on 16 October, the date of the first meeting of the club.

The sheet number for the Smilers stamps is 1541389.

 The original drawing of the Civic Centre has become a symbol of the club. Vic Sheppard produced it for the 1991 South Wales Federation Convention that the Newport club hosted.. Vic spent ten years with the club before his interest in the history of aviation absorbed most of his time. Vic has sent his best wishes to all in the club.

Recent meetings

Not counting the AGM, the 2006/7 season ended with a visit from John and Dave from the Thornbury club. Members were treated to a display of Ivory Coast followed by a miscellany of GB. The first of the summer meetings was also held at the Civic Centre when Alistair hosted his rearranged “Chairman's Evening”. This time it was Australian Antarctic Territory. Gwen hosted the next summer meeting showing “mail in a different way”. Alistair provided the .room and refreshments for the final summer meeting, when we had a film night comprising three shorts from the Post Office Film Unit (Horsey Mail, News for the Navy and The King's Stamp) and a film on the the “History of Writing” produced by the Bath Postal Museum.

The first meeting of the 2007/8 (60^th) season attracted 21 members for the traditional “new acquisitions” evening. This was followed on 3 October by our first visiting speaker, Jim Crompton, who displayed New Hebrides. The chairman's evening followed, with Alistair showing another display from the far south, this time the Falkland Islands.

The club meets at the Civic Centre in room 3, one of the council committee rooms but this season it has been out of action. We are now leading a nomadic life, so please check the room number when you arrive. The chairman's night was actually held in the prestigious surroundings of the council chamber.

The final meeting in October was the annual visit from the Barry club The displays that evening were hand drawn covers and the Maheno hospital ship (John Beechey), the Waverley paddle steamer (Alan Rosser), GB postcard rates (Brian Brandon) and Methodism (Reg Lyon).

Visits to other clubs

Club members have already made two visits. The first was to Bridgend where the displays from the four members were Venice (John Perry), Fiji (Martyn Britton), postal delivery (Gwen Hussey) and Christmas Island (Roy Bentley). The second was to Cardiff where Martyn and Gwen reprised their Bridgend displays and were joined by Alistair Mackinnon with Falkland Islands and Ron Hardacre with Pacific airmail.

South Wales Federation News

John Perry and Gwen Hussey attended the Federation AGM on 20 October. The new display protectors that Reg Lyon had produced for the 2007 Convention had been a great success and hopefully will encourage more entries to the annual competition. Erene Grieve, the youth officer., was not able to be present but sent a report in which she stated that she had a list of school stamp clubs. I have requested the section covering South Wales.

The next annual convention is booked for 3 May 2008. This clashes with other big fairs, notably the national one in Harrogate. So far only seven dealers have confirmed attendance at the Convention.

It is hoped that the autumn day in 2008 will be in Llanelli to celebrate their 40^th year with Swansea hosting the 2009 autumn day in celebration of their 75^th birthday. In connection with the 2010 Festival of Stamps the ABPS has asked regional federations to consider holding special stamp fairs. Neil Prior has now contacted the ABPS and put up a marker bid to run it within the 2010 Convention in Port Talbot.

The federation committee is unchanged for 2007/8, with your secretary (John Perry) being vice-chairman for the second year.

Bits and Pieces

The South Wales Argus had a feature on 3 September 2007 on the “action for species” birds stamps due for issue the following day. Unfortunately, despite having their Welsh launch at the Newport Wetlands Centre, there was no special Monmouthshire postmark, the nearest being from Symonds Yat..

Stamp fairs

Barry Stamp Club - Barry Comprehensive School, Port Road (opposite Tesco) - 1 December 2007 & 31 May 2008

Dragon Fairs (Chris Doble) - Cardiff Jury's Hotel - 7 December 2007 and then on the first Friday of each month in 2008.

M J Promotions - City Hall Cardiff - 15 December 2007 and then five times in 2008.

Cardiff Postcard club - Roath Community Centre - April and October 2008

Ann Scott Postcard Fairs, BAWA Centre, Bristol - 24 November 2007, 9 January, 29 March, 1 June, 3 August, 4 October and 29 November 2008

The big London fairs are Philatex (22-24 February 2008) and Stampex (27 February to 1 March 2008)