On Monday 5th May, members of the Banbury Stamp Society were once again entertained by John Biddlecombe, who gave a fascinating display and talk on the subject of New Zealand Health Stamps and the country’s Life Insurance stamp issues.
The first half of the evening focused on the famous New Zealand Health Stamps, a unique postal innovation that combined postage with charitable fundraising. John explained how, in the early twentieth century, New Zealand established health camps aimed at improving children’s wellbeing through fresh air, exercise, nutritious food and outdoor activities. A driving force behind the initiative was the formidable Elizabeth Gunn, who successfully persuaded the New Zealand Post Office to issue charity stamps in support of the camps.
The first issue appeared in 1929 and cost two pence, with one penny paying the postage and the second penny going directly towards funding the health camps. Annual issues followed and John displayed a wonderful range of material, including different stamp issues, varieties, proofs, presentation cards produced by Harrison printers, maxi cards, errors and flaws. Members particularly enjoyed some of the more unusual and eclectic designs, including depictions of the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens and the Eros statue in Leicester Square. Although seemingly unusual subjects for New Zealand stamps, John explained that many of the designs were produced in Great Britain.
Following the interval, John turned his attention to the Life Insurance stamps of New Zealand. These attractive issues traditionally featured lighthouse designs and were printed by the Government Printing Office. Early stamps carried the letters “V R”, while the approach of decimalisation in 1967 resulted in older issues being overprinted because there was insufficient time to produce entirely new decimal stamps. The final set was issued in 1989 before the stamps were eventually replaced by meter marks. John concluded the evening by showing several New Zealand philatelic oddities, including unusual circular kiwi stamps and Frama labels.
The evening proved to be both informative and entertaining, with John’s extensive knowledge and excellent material making for another memorable Banbury Stamp Society meeting.
The next meeting of the Banbury Stamp Society will be held on Tuesday, 19th May 2026, at 7:30pm at Jubilee Park Hall, Bloxham. The Banbury Stamp Society is on-line at
‘www.banburystampsociety.co.uk’, or contact John Davies on 01295 255831.