February 2026 Meeting Report

14th February 2026 – John Daynes’ Plate 15-page Competition (am) and a general discussion on the future of the Society (pm)

This was our first Banstead meeting of the year with 12 members and guests present during the day.  We had just six entries this year (one less than last year) of which one was a postal entry and the other an overseas electronic entry from the USA.  Voting was by the members present at the meeting. 

I’m pleased to announce that Regis Hoffman from the USA was declared the winner with his entry of “Nyasaland Field Force in German East Africa, World War 1”.  The display showed the postal history from Nyasaland Field Force (N.F.F.) that was involved with military operations and occupation of south-western German East Africa during World War I.  This was his first entry in our competitions and so hearty congratulations - well done!  This entry was also shown at our joint meeting with the East Africa Study Circle the following month. By the time you read this, his display should be available for viewing in the Displays pages of the website.

Second was Richard Berry with “Internment in Switzerland in WW2”.  The display featured material from Private Leonard Pember (Green Howards) to trace the Swiss Internment Camp he was in following his escape from an Italian POW Camp in 1943.  Third was Peter High with “The Italian Hospital Ship Gradisca”.  The Gradisca entered service as a hospital ship during the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1936 (although as she carried troops to Eritrea her designation was “Sick Transport Ship”).  Duly registered as a full hospital ship for World War II we see her involved in various areas, i.e. Albania and Greece.

The other three entries were (in alphabetical order): Andrew Brooks with “Austro-Hungarian semi-illustrated feldpostkartes in the Great War” - this entry described a selection of feldpostkartes published in the Dual Monarchy where the front of the card had an illustration as well as the address.  Any message was confined to the reverse.  As one might expect, Heads of State dominated, especially Emperor Franz Josef 1 followed by other military personalities.  Patriotic designs including flags, soldiers and named regiments are less frequently seen but are possibly more interesting.  Simon McArthur with “The German Air Force (Luftwaffe) 1933-45” - the entry began with the rebirth of the Luftwaffe when Hitler came to power although it was not until March 1935 that the air force officially became an independent part of the German Armed Forces.  It includes an embossed cover from an airman at the flying school, together with items from air districts, individual airfields and personnel in the German air force.  Frank Schofield with “Postcards of Venice 1918” - this entry showed a range of postcards with views of Venice in 1918.  11 of them, all with different views, addressed to Crewe, Cheshire written by a driver in the RASC.

The afternoon session was about the future of the Society and was a general discussion on where members see the Society in today’s world.  The first topic was about the number of meetings we hold each year (divided between Banstead and the UJC).  We currently hold 11 such meetings plus the Banstead Stamp and Postal History Fair (incorporating War & Philately) in August.  The general consensus was that we should continue holding monthly meetings.  This then took us into talking about the split between Banstead and the UJC - currently we hold all-day meetings at Banstead (four) and afternoon meetings at the UJC (seven) unless there was a joint meeting.  We had received a suggestion that we should hold all-day meetings at the UJC.  However, room hire costs at the UJC were much higher than at Banstead where we received a discount - we pay more for an afternoon meeting at the UJC than an all-day meeting at Banstead.  Because of continuing low numbers who attend our meetings at either location we did not think it financially viable to make any changes at this time.  We had received a request from our Zoom meetings organiser to open up our Zoom meetings to non-members and this we agreed to do so; other societies do the same and not only does it spread the name and nature of our Society but it could attract new members as well.  Indeed we did this at our recent February Zoom meeting and we had seven additional non-member attendees.  We talked about our Banstead Stamp and Postal History Fair (incorporating War & Philately) and our organiser had decided to print flyers early and indeed had some at the meeting for members to take away and distribute.  The idea is to try and publicise the meeting a lot earlier to attract more interest in attending.  We had also changed the name to reflect the general nature of the stamp and postal history fair and that it was not merely forces related.  We were happy with the fees charged for dealers and others to hire tables.  Joint meetings were to be encouraged as they attract greater attendances and we can view material not previously seen - it could also attract new members.  The last topic involved our display boards held at the UJC.  We are lucky in that they hold our display boards with no storage costs and they bring them out and stack them away on our meeting dates.  We currently have 14 display boards at the UJC and there are now no other philatelic societies which use the UJC who use our boards - such societies either no longer exist or meet in other locations.  We only use about seven boards at the UJC for our meetings and so it was suggested that we remove about five boards to Banstead to use there in place of the smaller boards at that location.  This had the agreement of those in attendance and we hope to do this sometime this year.