On Tuesday January 17th 2023, Banbury Stamp Society welcomed members from Leamington Philatelic Society. We were treated to several displays with something of interest for everyone. We started with a thematic display from Maggie, with stamps showing visitors to her garden over the years. This included more extensive material on two of her favourites – the greater spotted woodpecker and the hedgehog.
Next was Steve with a thematic display of stamps depicting the solar system, a display of British Post Office firsts and then postcards from the ‘Raunds March’ of 1905 where Northamptonshire bootmakers marched on London to protest falling wages. In the second half. Toby started with novel and novelty addresses on envelopes, including one from Reginald Bray who apparently posted himself. He followed with British Guiana and a stamp design that covered the end of the colonial period and the start of Guyana’s independence. The London 1980 50p stamp formed the next section – the stamp depicts 8 London landmarks and we saw postcards and other philatelic material for each of them. The last set from Toby was a particularly niche collection based on the introduction of new automatic letter sorting in the Stockport area in 1986. Nick finished the evening with a collection of 18th Century adverts and articles from newspapers and magazines which illustrated the development of the parcel post as turnpikes linked more and more towns. With the advent of the railway system, parcel delivery transferred to trains and the Post Office did not get involved in parcel delivery until 1883.
The next presentation evening will be for members to display stamps or covers based on the letter ‘K’ on Tuesday 7th February 2023 at 7:30pm at the Hanwell Fields Community Centre. The Banbury Stamp Society is on-line at ‘www.banburystampsociety.co.uk’, or contact John Davies on 01295 255831.