THE LIGHTHOUSE
The Newsletter of the Eastbourne & South Downs Philatelic Society
http://www.esdps.co.uk
Editor: John Wright, 12 Milchester House, Staveley Road, Meads, Eastbourne, BN20 7JX.
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Views expressed in this Newsletter are not necessarily those of the Officers or Committee
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No. 42
November 2014
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WHY THERE'S A CRYPTIC PUZZLE IN THE POST
A graphic designer has added a new meaning to the term "post code". He gives some clues about his methods to Harry Wallop. (This
article is reprinted from The Daily Telegraph if July 2014. The illustrations are omitted as they would not reproduce well here)
As a hobby it is esoteric and rather British: setting puzzles for postmen. For the past few years
James Addison, 25, a graphic designer who lives in Poole, Dorset, has been sending letters to friends,
family, and often himself. But instead of simply writing the address on the envelope, he has constructed
a conundrum for his local Royal Mail sorting office to solve.
One address was written in Morse code; one was a pencil sketch of the front of Addison's office building,
with the post code hidden in a street sign; one was constructed entirely as a sonnet. He estimates that he has sent
out about 30 such letters and that only two have failed to arrive at their destination. One of these was a letter that
simply had his name - not even his home town - written on the envelope, so it is not surprising that it stumped the
postie.
Addison's hobby has come to light after a video, shot by a friend, was published online. But while his pastime
is eccentric, what is even stranger is that the employees of Royal Mail, grappling with cost cutting, appear not to
resent his activities. Indeed they seem to relish the challenge.
"One envelope had three addresses to various friends' homes with a little biography about each of them", says
Addison. "It invited the Royal Mail to 'Choose the person who best deserves to receive this letter'. When it
arrived, I was to hear that there was a written conversation on the envelope where postal staff across the country
had diverted its destination in a sort of debate. The final address had a giant pink heart drawn over it in crayon".
Even though the rise of email and Facebook means that we are sending only half as many letters as a decade
ago, the Royal Mail still handles 45 million a day. Fewer than one in ten is a "social communication" as the
Royal Mail prosaically describe them. The great majority are junk mail or business letters, with most arriving on
our doormats with a dull, printed address sticker.
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But all, be they passionate love letters or gas bills - in the first instance - are sorted electronically. They are
sent at high speed through a machine, where a camera scans the postcode. Most postcodes can be read, allowing
the letters to be sent to the delivery office closest to the recipient's address. The final sorting - into the correct
village or street so that the postman can deliver it - is done by hand. There are 1.7 million postcodes in Britain,
which means that if a letter has a correct postcode and nothing more, a postman can narrow down an address to
no more than about 15 to 20 houses. Most of Addison's letters did include a postcode on the envelope, though
often hidden either within a picture (one appears on a scarf worn by a pigeon) or as part of a clue.
Around 2.4 million addresses a day cannot be "read" by machine. Pictures of them are taken and sent digitally
to special offices, manned by 820 staff, who try to decipher where the post should go. When this fails, letters are
sent to the National Return Centre in Belfast, whose job is to try to send undeliverable mail back to the original
senders. This office handles about 60,000 letters a day. Eddie Mackenzie, who is in charge of the Western Isles
delivery office for Royal Mail, says: "We get an awful lot at Christmas, when people want to send a card and
can't remember where people live. We've once had "Home carer, Lady with the horses" and the name of the
village, but we were able to work it out".
Addison insists that he is a huge admirer of the Royal Mail and has no desire to waste postmen's time. "The
Royal Mail sometimes gets a lot of stick. I think it is a brilliant service," he says. "I don't think any other postal
service in the world would have the commitment to deliver every item they receive. I don't want to annoy the
Royal Mail too much and so I avoid Christmas Day, Mother's Day and Valentine's Day because that'd probably
be the worst possible time to send something". He said his most pleasing result was an address made up entirely
of dingbats or pictograms which arrived successfully. His surname, Addison, was rendered as a + sign, an E and
an image of the sun. A picture of someone diving into a swimming pool was his home town, Poole. "I'm really
surprised that got through," he says.
Although he enjoys solving puzzles himself, he said his hobby was fuelled partly to test the Royal Mail's
ingenuity and partly to honour old-fashioned letter-writing, following his mother's advice that a handwritten
thank-you note showed you had made an effort. "I work with computers on a day-to-day basis. I find it quite
refreshing to do a handwritten envelope. I think it gives a letter a much more human element". He was also
inspired by Harriet Russell, an illustrator, who undertook an almost identical project in 1999 when she was an art
student in Glasgow. Her efforts - all 130 letters - were turned into a book in 2008, called Envelopes.
The first letter she sent was addressed in mirror writing, and when it arrived back at her flat - in the same time
it takes for a normal letter to arrive - she knew that somewhere at the Glasgow Mail Centre, someone had enjoyed
her work. So she pressed on and the results formed the key part of her degree show. Russell said yesterday that
she was very surprised but flattered that she had inspired a copycat artist. Her own favourite envelope was
designed as a crossword. "The postmen had filled in the crossword. I was quite amazed they did it. They really
did have to work it out for themselves, even the postcode was an anagram." When her publishers approached
Royal Mail, it insisted that a rather po-faced warning was included at the start of the book: "This book highlights
how Royal Mail postmen and women often go beyond the call of duty to deliver poorly addressed mail. Each
week they successfully deliver 15 million badly addressed letters. To help us deliver your post, can we remind
you to correctly and clearly address items being posted."
Even after the Royal Mail was controversially privatised last year, it is still bound by the so-called universal
service that ensures consumers can send a letter to any location within the United Kingdom for a fixed price, with
or without a postcode on the envelope. But it helps to have those crucial letters and numbers - even if it is
incorporated in a crossword.
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The next day, there was a letter in "The Daily Telegraph" from Diggory Seacombe (splendid name!) as follows:
"James Anderson's cryptic addresses reminded me of my father's brain-teaser
Wood
John
Hants
A letter addressed, of course, to John Underwood, Andover, Hants."
(Clever, but pity the poor postie!)
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ROYAL MAIL PEDALS INTO BIKE ROW
(Adapted from an article by Louise Armitstead in The Daily Telegraph of 25th July)
Britain's bicycling postmen will finally be consigned to history, the chairman of Royal Mail said, at the
annual meeting in Birmingham. There were other reasons for investor ire, but the demise of the traditional
pedalling postie was about as bad as it got. The chairman explained that bicycles, phased out over a number of
years, were no longer efficient or practical for the delivery of parcels - the firm's fastest growing business, and
said: 'The end of the tradition is 'sad', but bicycles for mail delivery in this company are a thing of the past, and
we need more efficient ways to ensure that our postmen are kept safe and our customers get their mail".
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MORE SUCCESS FOR FRANCOIS
Regular readers of The Lighthouse may recall that #38 (November 2013) reported Bowls success for member
Francois Celada, who runs the splendid emporium "Francois" in South Street. This number of The Lighthouse is
very pleased to report further success for him, with two local "Fours" titles and a local "Pairs", together with the
retention of his Singles crown at his local club, The Saffrons, this giving him entry into further competitions.
Congratulations, and good luck for the later stages.
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A NEW DEFINITIVE SET FOR CYPRUS
Graham Little reports that this was planned to begin on 10th October 2014 and to be completed some time in
2015. The subject for this new issue will be "Intellectual Personalities, born before 1920, of Cyprus", and the
first six values to appear are €0.04, €0.34, €0.41, €0.50, €0.64 and €0.85.
There are two stamps for each value, making twelve stamps so far, with one Personality for each value, and
Graham doubts you would know that Cyprus was such a hotbed of Intellectuals and not just hot! Later releases
will probably include one (or two?) for 1 euro. Details of the issue, including names and brief biographical detail
of those Personalities shown, will be found on the Club Notice Board.
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REVIEW
(photograph by Martyn Fish)
31st July The first half was an EGG CUP display by Shirley Gordon entitled Health & Disease. Profusely
illustrated with stamps, postcards, covers and ephemera, this opened with Asclepius (Greek God of healing),
continued with Hippocrates (father of modern medicine) and moved to the World Health Organisation (started
1948, moved 1964 to new HQ in Geneva). For Health we need to exercise (swimming excellent); eat
sensibly ("a little of what you fancy does you good")- milk very good, also a little butter - protein from
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meat/fish/eggs (eggs now thought good) - breads provide carbohydrates, the body's main energy source; limit
alcohol; don't smoke (smoking tobacco is globally the single greatest cause of preventable death); avoid drugs
(particularly heroin); and drink water (many water charities exist - in some countries solar power is used to pump
water). Disease (when the body is at dis-ease) smallpox eliminated c. 1980; Malaria -transmitted by mosquitos treated for many years by herbs until quinine, nowadays with antibiotics, vaccines now being tested; TB - spread
by coughs and sneezes (various campaigns against, Dr Robert Koch did much work); AIDS -not now as lifethreatening as once (1st December is World Aids Day); Cancer- uncontrolled growth of a cell -dogs can be
trained to smell this; Diabetes (type 1, usually a disease from youth, treat with insulin injections -type 2 comes
mainly to people when older); Heart (clogging of coronary arteries); and Leprosy (not contagious). When Shirley
starts on a theme, she throws herself into it whole-heartedly and this was a splendid show of part of her collection
on this theme.
Husband Geoffrey Gordon, also with an EGG CUP display, took the second half with Netherlands Antilles,
a group of 5½ islands in the West Indies. Colombus, Italian but backed by Spain, explored the area in 1492/3.
Spain wanted all the islands, but Britain and France objected, and it was agreed that an island could be the possession
of whichever country settled it. Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, St. Eustatius, Saba and half of St. Maarten form the
Netherlands Antilles, the last three, (now known as the 'Dutch Caribbean'), together with Surinam and Holland,
now forming the Kingdom of the Netherlands. At the start of the 20th century, when oil was discovered in
Venezuela, it was refined on Aruba and Curacao. The first stamp was in 1873, and until 1949 all said 'Curacao',
with the same design as used for Dutch East Indies - from that time they were inscribed 'Netherlands Antilles'.
Aruba requested, and was granted, independence in 1986-St. Maarten (half French as sailors from France and the
Netherlands, with the latter getting the best bit, landed on the same day) also opted for independence and the
Netherlands Antilles disbanded 10th October 2010. St. Maarten issued its first stamp on that day and doesn't
appear to have issued any others (although there are doubts!) and Dutch Caribbean stamps were first seen on the
same day but the last issues may have been in 2012. One strange (to my way of thinking) thing about these
stamps is that they showed no currency other than cents - high values would be marked '225c', '503c' or even
'1010c'. Geoffrey is very keen on the most attractive stamps of this region, and we saw very many in the second
fine display of the evening.
Very many thanks, Shirley and Geoffrey, each of whom produced a tour de force.
jmw
7th August Lionel Jones opened his EGG CUP display GB Sidelines with an original copy of An Act for the
Setling of the Postage of England Scotland and Wale, dated 1657, and followed with two copies of Monthly
Supplement of the Penny Magazine (1834,1837) each of which had a fine front page engraving. We saw early
envelopes (1838,1841,...); 3 examples of Campaign for 1d Ocean Postage sheets; a letter sheet signed on behalf
of Rowland Hill; Coaching Bills; several Meet Your Post Office covers; an unused set of 12 National War
Savings Movement postcards (and 11, scarce, used); attractive Royal Mail Welcome sheets for the Brighton area,
which gave local post information; Workmen's bus tickets for use by Postmen; Post Bus tickets; Cigarette Cards
relevant to the Postal Service; sheets of etiquettes; early Registered receipts; Cleaning Tokens for Postmen's
uniforms; 3 pages of Training School stamps; 4 postal Armbands; 8 handstamps; Gift Tokens for Savings
Certificates; and very many items of Post Office ephemera.
The second half opened with examples of Post Office Training Money (10/- to £20, more than 1 example of
each); a Money Letter of 1832; Telegraph Money Orders; Santa cards; an unused 'Boots' card which came with a
specially printed 1st class stamp; forms telling you how to pack Soft Fruit or Eggs for postal transmission (!);
Railway Stamps; Poll Tax Stamps; a set of 5 World Wildlife Trust cards, with impressed 'Cinderella', each of
which passed unchallenged through the post; a page explaining how the different orientation of a stamp on a
letter conveyed a message; his eight-sheet winning ASPS Postcard Competition entry; forms from various
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Telegraph Companies, including Press Telegrams; Greetings Telegrams; a large metal Stamps Sold Here plate;
and again much more. The final item was a handsome recent acquisition, a Truncheon, 1837, to be used to
protect property and person against Chartists (we didn't see the Stage Coach Blunderbuss). A remarkable show of
material not seen outside (or, probably, inside) a museum. Thank you, Lionel.
jmw
14th August Recent Acquisitions was opened by Alan Quinney who showed us the most recent GB stamps (not seen
by most of us!). He was followed by John Griffin with some Gilbert & Ellice Is, St. Kitts, and a GB coin cover
which marked the end of 1999 and the start of 2000; and then Sarah Griffin presented used San Marino, 195260, Sarawak, Senegal, Seychelles, and a used block of 15 Shanghai Municipality. Next came Jennie Little with
1990 Pitcairn postcards (based on photos taken by the Pitcairn Study Group) and some repros of 1916 cards.
Graham Little showed commercially used covers from Cyprus, Burma, Bechuanaland, Fiji, Aden and Channel
Is, and then Mike Wyatt had the GB 1911 first flight, a 1928 Zeppelin, 1936 Hindenburg, a GWR air service
cover (22nd May '33) and other flight material. Peter Burridge had a new country - Alderney - which we saw from its
beginning in 1983 to date, and then Murray Figgins showed two covers from the Roosevelt collection (from San
Salvador and China, the latter with seals and Harmer authentication).
Bob Brown had bought some Austro-Hungary on Gibbons printed leaves, c. 1900, with many stamps and
perhaps not added to since that date. Michael Farrant (where does he find it all?) had 19 Zanzibar covers,
including registered to Switzerland and WWII censored to Aden, Egypt, India and Turkey. Hugh Johnson is
starting to collect Chile and we saw a recent purchase of stamps on sheets, 1853-1960, and Tim Griffiths
showed a variety of German Occupation stamps. Bill France has started to collect Tristan, and we saw 19731992 including m/s and stamps showing shipwrecks, while Dawn Johnson presented material purchased the
previous evening, including cards of Eastbourne. Bob Murdock loves keyplates (so do I, but he collects them)
and we saw some splendid Leeward Islands and Bermuda; also the Eric Yendell book on them. Richard Tarrant
had a (?unique?) cover with both a 1 anna India and Hapgoods perfin on GB KE VII, and also a commercial
overprint on a GB 1d Venetian red. Nigel Steer concluded an interesting evening with Hungary tete beche and
some mini sheets.
jmw
21st August Richard Robbins opened the Used evening with 1851-1964 Denmark, almost complete, with different
perfs; inverted frames; Newspaper, Official, Postage due, Parcel and Air stamps; and many overprints or surcharges.
Next up was Graham Little and Egypt, 1879-1952 Revolution: very many exhibition, congress and definitive issues,
and the handsome 21 value Air set of 1933. Murray Figgins showed Pakistan covers: to Harwell; to the Chief Supt of
police at Karachi; to Thornton Heath; to Bush House; and lots of others; and he was followed by Bill France who
continued his USA first flight and fdc airmail interest - it seems there was a cover for almost any event! Sarah
Griffin had her "T" album, with Trengganu; Italian and Jugoslav Trieste (including fdc); Trinidad; Trinidad & Tobago
(with War Tax opts); Tripolitania; and Tristan. David Manthorpe likes Railway stamps on cover: we saw these from
Aberystwyth, Festiniog, Ravenglass & Eskdale, Llanberis Lake, North Yorkshire Moors, West Somerset, and several
others, and Nigel Steer had brought Norwegian business mail (about 40 covers and cards), and also 2 mailbag tags.
Jennie Little presented New Zealand: fdc of 1935; Queen Victoria PS; page of 1909 stamps; 1926 Radio Ham cards;
1937 first airmail to USA; and also a number of covers from Antarctica; and Richard Tarrant rounded off the
evening with 1990s USA - in the main heavily cancelled (but that is what you get with USA commercially used
nowadays) - including Olympics, Christmas, Pop Stars; and the really handsomely engraved Grace Kelly stamp. Thank
you all.
jmw
28th August Letters V, W, X, Y, Z was opened by Murray Figgins, who showed used Zimbabwe, 1980-1990;
Richard Robbins followed with Vatican City on his favourite Davo leaves (when did we last see a substantial
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collection of that?). Next, Graham Little, with Vanuatu, Western Samoa (including a stamp existing only in
surcharged form), Zanzibar and Zimbabwe; and Alan Quinney showed 60 covers for the 50th anniversary of the
end of WW II. Tim Griffiths didn't cheat with United Nations, on Dutch sheets (Vereinte Nationen); and also
had Vatican City (!!) with Airs, Tax opts and Express; while Robin Beadle's offering was New Zealand and
Vintage machinery, Wild birds and animals, Yachts, Xmas, and Vineyards. Brian Stalker went for Villages
around Carlisle - postcards and postmarks from great grandmother's collection (all those villages had "Carlisle"
in the pmk), and also Vittals - a collection dealing with George Taylor (Paris Station, Ontario) who was a general
dealer in almost everything.
Sarah Griffin showed a Zanzibar newspaper wrapper, and earlier stamps to I960, also some ZANZIDAR
overprints on India (if "right" these are very good), and Ron Carter (who loves his ships) had Warships of WW I
and WW II on postcards. Jennie Little had postcards of Venice, Vienna, Vatican, Waldron, Welland Canal, Wick,
Louis Wain, York castle, New Zealand Chinese New Year, Zoo,....; and Evelyn Hutchins showed us a number of
pages of Great Britain Queen Victoria. Richard Tarrant was not left much room but we saw West Germany
Konrad Adenauer commemoration and also Friedrich Engels (did you know his ashes were scattered at Beachy
Head?). Thank you all.
jmw
11th September The second Auction under the "new Management" of Richard Robbins, Tim Griffiths and Bill
France. Richard Robbins writes:We have just had our 2nd Auction under the new team, and I think we are getting there. A big thanks to Tim
for producing a good catalogue, and thanks to Richard Tarrant and Bill France for all their help with
Viewing and Auction evenings, and also "thank you" to Tim's daughter Caitlinfor her help and to Brian
Dancer for his work on the table with the money.
But most of all it's a big THANK YOU to you, the members, for putting your hands deep into pockets and
buying the items on offer. This was reflected in the "take" from this Auction, which was £1,100, a fantastic
result. Long may it continue.
18th September Cynthia Wright displayed a collection of postcards entitled 20th Century Surprises and Art
Nouveau. Cynthia explained that the Art Nouveau style had its heyday between the 1880s and 1914 (the outbreak
of the First World War). It drew its inspiration from Nature and was characterised by the existence of sinuous
curves and the frequent presence of completely unrelated topics in a design. Art Nouveau was seen in many
guises, including furniture and furnishings, ceramics, glass, silver, bookbindings and illustrations, jewellery and,
of course, postcards.
Cynthia displayed a number of early postcards depicting early 20th century innovations. There were cards on
the early telephone, such as a set of six all written and posted in Germany from November 1908 to January 1909;
others on motoring, including a French set of ten pre-1902 cards by Marnix that considered the folly of youth and
dangerous driving, and also Arthur Moreland's "Write-Away" humorous motoring cards. Pre-1910 cards (some of
leather, and one heavily embossed) depicted the teddy bear, inspired by an incident involving the USA President
Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt, who, in 1902, refused to shoot a bear-cub. The teddy bear became the most popular
toy ever and was celebrated on postcards. "The Fish Story", an American composite comic novelty (three cards,
when together telling a story) posted to a small boy in 1907, also appeared.
Day-to-day life featured with Robert Sauber's set of twelve entitled "Familiar Figures of London", all written
by 'Jack' on 17th February 1902 and posted at 12:15 pm the next day to Miss Troughton in Enfield with a
charming continuous message running along the foot of each card. Cards by Albert Ludovici, Jnr, showing
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early Edwardian boarding school life (boys and girls), aspects of domestic chaos, and ''Our Serving Girls" were
shown. Music-hall entertainments made a showing, as did word-play with 1890s Court cards. At the start of the
20th century, "mirror-writing" was popular: the display included a set of twelve 1908 Valentine Day cards by
American Clare Victor Dwiggins, all signed DWIG, with each card featuring a mirror with reversed writing.
Among the most interesting advertisement cards were those of Fry's, with the display including postcards not
only of the famous Five Boys Chocolate (pu June 1904) but also of the postcard from the same era showing the
less well-known illustration of "The Five Girls who wanted Fry's Five Boys Chocolate". One of many famous
artists whose cards were displayed was John Hassall, noted for his poster "Skegness is so Bracing": his pre-1902
set of children's activities included such as kite flying, football and cricket. Tom Browne is another famous
British illustrator whose postcards were on display, including those on cycling and billiards.
The display included a number of cards designed by Raphael Kirchner, an Austrian artist (1876-1917).
The model for all his cards was his wife Nina, who, following Kirchner's death, tried to commit suicide and
finally became a mental patient through excessive drug use. The first Kirchner cards Cynthia displayed were
from a series entitled "Enfants de la Mer" / "Children of the Sea", (five pu 1902). Following were six cards (five
pu, the earliest from Brussels on 27th December 1899), these from "A Quatre Feuilles" / "Four Leaves" series,
perhaps representing the four-leaved clover for good luck. Other examples included Christmas, cycling and
motoring ("Flashing Motorists" series).
A feature of many cards on display was the depiction of attractive young women. Sets included those by the
Hungarian artist Alexander Popini; a series of twelve cards reflecting the characteristics of each month by
Sydney Carter; and a set of twelve pre-1902 cards illustrating European Capital City Girls, showing each city's
selling-points, by the Belgian Fernand Toussaint. No display of Art Nouveau illustrations could be counted
complete without the work of Alfons Mucha (1860-1939) whose work received a huge boost following his design
of a poster for Sarah Bernhardt, and we were not disappointed. The display included four vertical and four
horizontal Mucha cards from 1899 covering the four seasons, with each young woman having a halo effect, this
trait being adopted by others. It also included Mucha's series depicting young women over the twelve months of
the year, these from the same era.
Not all of Cynthia's cards were artist drawn, some, including a number from her great-aunt Liz Sinden's
album (a few with "mirror writing") illustrated local events, such as Judge cards covering the official visit to
Hastings by London's Lord Mayor on 28th November 1908, one showing the procession passing Judge's premises,
then at 42 White Rock. We saw the laying of tramlines in Hastings & St. Leonards, and others with family
members aboard the first tram to run for the general public in Hastings on 31st July 1905. Rural life featured, as
did diabolo being played on the long-gone Hastings Cricket Ground (pu 1907); Suffragettes with sandwichboards demonstrating in Hastings town-centre; two very different seaside holidays and their effects; and also
various types of rail travel cards; social history and novelty cards, including one with a velvet hat which survived
the 1911 post.
A summary cannot do justice to such a display. It represented Art Nouveau and the early 20th century so well
with a range of cards from Britain, Europe and USA by many artists. With most cards in superb condition it was
a privilege to experience the display. Thank you Cynthia.
Richard Tarrant
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25th September Bob's Quartet was Bob Larg's title for
this 4-part display. This was his 6th visit, the first having
been in September 1988. He opened with "Postcards of
French Exhibitions", these having started in 1889, a
subject for which there is no specific listing. We saw
cards of 1894 (Lyon, International & Colonial); Lille
(1902); Marseille ('06); Amiens (also '06); Bordeaux
(Maritime, '07); Toulouse ('08); Nancy ('09); Paris
(International Philatelic, '13); Paris (Modern Decorative
Arts, '25); Paris (Colonial, '31); Paris ('37, including a
miniature sheet); and several others. Most appealing.
The second subject was "Catapult Mail". The system
developed in Germany to shorten transatlantic mail time.
Started in 1929, a compressed air launcher propelled a
seaplane from either the SS Bremen or the SS Europa
with flights handled by Lufthansa and aircraft by Heinkel
and, later, Junkers. About 8½ thousand pieces of mail
were handled on the first of some 220 flights, with 2487
km the longest. The development of the even faster
Zeppelin ended the scheme. Again very interesting.
Part III was "Official Stamps of Australia", starting in
1913 with federation when stamps were perfined with
large letters O S, these letters being so large that the
stamps tore with the result that smaller characters were
used. The perfins were originally on the 'Roo stamps, then
the KGV heads and a few commems. Later, overprinted O S came, with some postal stationery having the O S
showing in 'white dots' and later in white. We saw an underpaid cover from one official dept to another, charged
2d postage due. States perfined with O S N S W, T, V G, or WA. We saw a cover addressed Carnarvon (in WA)
sent to Caernarvon (Wales) and returned, 20,000 miles in 24 days! Our President particularly liked the
impressive show of perfins.
The final part was what Bob described as a 'basic' New Zealand collection. Basic? We were shown, starting
with KGV, an impressive range of stamps, covers, postal stationery, officials, official mail, fiscals, Health
stamps, finishing with a few airmails. I especially liked a separated PS reply paid card, sold as a single card, with
impressed KE ½d, uprated with impressed KGV ½d. Many thanks, Bob, for a fine evening.
jmw
2nd October Silent Display was the title, not easy to take notes, but here goes! Richard Robbins opened with
modern mint SW Africa / Namibia, with some m/s, followed by Bill France with mint Postal Stationery, mostly
postcards but fine registered envelopes for S. Nigeria and S. Rhodesia. Next was Robin Beadle, with (mostly
wildlife) covers from I 0 M and New Zealand; Paul Jenkins, who had vintage Swiss postcards (including a
number of Fribourg); Evelyn Hutchins with British kings on Barbuda and St. Vincent, and general British
monarchy; and Alan Quinney with further covers of 50th anniv of World War II.
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After the break, Graham Little showed GB covers 1937 - '51, including SW fdc, a registered FOB cover
with the receipt, and a Royal Navy "honour" envelope; Brian Dancer presented a number of first flight covers,
all with special handstamps; new member Dennis Brown (making his debut) had misplaced lines on the 1d GB
graphite, and the l/3d "club flaw" on the GB Hastings; Jennie Little showed used Ross Dependency 1957-2000
with m/s; Peter Burridge gave us 1924, '25 Wembley Exhibition postcards and ephemera (including 2 tickets for
the State Opening by the King & Queen on 23.04.24); and Ron Carter had 5 x QE Coronation covers and a
number of transport items. Mike Wyatt presented 5 x Red Cross message sheets from WWII (civilians giving
news) and various Channel Island material; and Richard Tarrant rounded off the evening with mint
Luxembourg, 1971 - '77.14 people showing in a very varied evening - thank you all.
jmw
9th October Graham Little opened Mint and/or Used with a very recent Auction purchase of mint Canada optd
G (which replaced the earlier OHMS opts), many in blocks of 4, on 30 pages. Next, Murray Figgins with post
independence India to 1966 and a number of covers from a Children's Charity in southern India to Rotary or
Lions International; then Richard Robbins showed 30 pages of mint South Africa (1911-1950) including some
JIPEX m/s, coils, officials, airmails and dues; and Tim Griffiths closed the first half with handsome Finland
serpentine roulettes and SAAR cards or covers.
Alan Quinney showed a mass of GB, from QV to KG VI, with a good deal of duplication; Robin Beadle
had NZ Health covers, and also covers with various anniversaries and Christmas; Mike Wyatt spoke about four
GB entires (1819,1841,1851,1866), a postcard of 1900, and also showed 10 sheets of GB, KE VII and VIII, and
KG V and VI; and Nigel Steer showed Norwegian skilling issues with enlargements of some from 1863 and a
variety of other covers. Bill France put up 4 pages of unused PS, and then a complete run of mint USA airmails
(the first 3 were facsimiles) to 1962; Jennie Little had a cover, NZ to France, with a host of '41 - '47 stamps, and
mint S Orkney, S Georgia, S Shetland, Graham Land, and a S Shetland cover with 8 x blocks of 4; and Sarah
Griffin closed the evening with early Switzerland - seated and standing Helvetia, William Tell, tete beche, and
some PS cards. Thank you all.
jmw
11th October The Association of Sussex Philatelic Societies Convention at Ardingly was successful, with a
number of members of E&SDPS involved in different ways. Chris Dadswell and Peter Gray again ran the Bid
Board, with Chris also acting as photographer for the Presentations, and Pat and Tony Calton, with Jacques
Jones, "collared" people on entry for the Tombola. Steve Cross was 2nd in the "Individual Thematic" (the first
time he has entered); Jim Etherington was 2nd in the "Picture Postcard", with both Chris Dadswell and Jennie
Little Commended; Brian Stalker gained 2nd place in the "Open" competition, and with John Wright was = 2nd
in the Inter-Society, where Lionel Jones (half of the Sussex PHS) was 4th; and John Wright won the "Postal
History" with an entry deemed "Best in Show". On the administrative side, our Vice President Bill France
becomes Auctioneer; Jim Etherington, having ended his 2-year stint as President, is Vice President; Kevin
Dillistone is Officer for Juniors (and on the Executive Committee); Michael Farrant and John Wright continue
as, respectively, Accounts Examiner and Secretary. There was good visitor-representation from the Society.
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16th October It was announced that Royal Mail would be producing 14 Special Issues in 2015, and on the front
table the 8-value "Prime Ministers" set was available for viewing. The advertised first half of the evening was the
Classic Cup, but only one member produced an entry, so no competition. Disappointing. Fortunately, Michael
Wyatt had been advised that this situation might occur, and he came with Latvia producing a really splendid
Postal History show. Latvia was under Russian control until 1918, then independent until the 1940 German
invasion, when it first used Russian stamps optd 'LATVIJA', then Hitler Heads optd 'OSTLAND'. The earliest
piece of mail we saw was from 1837, then 1852 and 1856 - there was a postal service to urban areas but in the
country it was sparse as few could read. A goodly number of items conveyed by TPO (with maps) were shown
and there was a fascinating cover of 18th October 1919 with 8 'Western Army' imperfs of Latvia, guaranteed
genuine by the Postmaster of Jelgava. Many postcards were shown, both pictorial and postal stationery, there was
a fine card cancelled 29th March 1940 advertising the Olympic Games (which of course never took place), and
another item to catch the eye was a cover of 1925, Riga to London, which had been insured for 10,000 Gold
Francs!! Many thanks, Michael, for rescuing the first half.
The second half was as advertised, with Michael Wyatt again, this time with Lundy - surely everyone has
seen one or two stamps of this tiny island, but who realised there were so many? The name comes from Old
Norse 'Lundi' (puffin') and 'ey' (island), and it was turned into a stronghold by the de Marisco family in the 12th
century, later becoming a base for pirates from France, Spain, North Africa and Britain. Although a British Post
Office is recorded as opening in 1887, it is unlikely it functioned until 1892. Much mail was generated when, on
30th May 1906, the Royal Navy battleship HMS Montagu was wrecked on Lundy's Great Shutter Rock. In 1925,
Martin Coles Harman acquired the island and the mail-carrying contract: unable to find a sub-postmaster, the
GPO was requested to close the Post Office, which was agreed. Mail has to use Lundy stamps to reach the
mainland, with British stamps to take it further. On the death of Mr. Harman, the island was purchased by Jack
Hayward: it was given to the National Trust in 1969 and is now leased to the Landmark Trust. Lundy stamps
exist as triangular (both perf and imperf), diamond, and rectangular; also as small, miniature and large sheets, and
we saw most. Many thanks, Michael, for a splendid full evening, not the half you expected!
jmw
* * * * * * *
. . . AND PREVIEW
6th November - A, B, C stand for .............. - Members' Evening
20th November - Union of South Africa - Roy Ferguson
23rd November - Uckfield Stamp Fair - Ridgewood Village Hall, New Road, Ridgewood Village, 10am -4pm
27th November - (1) - Thematic Shield
- (2) - Favourite Definitives - Members' Evening
4th December - Postal History - Members'Evening
10th December - SOUTH DOWNS POSTCARD CLUB, Westham - Christmas Party
11th December - CHRISTMAS PARTY - Members' Evening
13th December - Eastbourne Stamp Fair - St Mary's Church Hall, Decoy Drive, Eastbourne, 10 am -4 pm
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18th December - (1) - All I Want For Christmas . . . . . - Members' Evening
- (2) - Last Date for Receipt of Material for 8th January Auction
25th December - NO MEETING
1st January 2015 - Informal Evening and Auction Viewing
8 th January - AUCTION
14th January - SOUTH DOWNS POSTCARD CLUB, Westham - Annual General Meeting and Competition
15th January - Russia - Sarah Griffin
22nd January - Visit from Bexhill Philatelic Society
24th January - Bexhill Stamp Fair, St Martha's Church Hall, Cooden Sea Road, Little Common, 10 am-4 pm
24th January - Eastbourne Stamp Fair, St Mary's Church Hall, Decoy Drive, Eastbourne, 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
29th January - 15 Favourite Pages - Members' Evening
5th February - (1) - A Bit More Africa - Murray Figgins - EGG CUP
- (2) - Last Date for Receipt of Material for 26th February Auction
* * * * * * *
MOVING THE MAIL - From the Newsletter of the British Postal Museum & Archive
Mail Rail
By the turn of the 20th century, with thick smog regularly bringing the already heavily congested
thoroughfares of London to a standstill, mail transported between main Post Offices and railway stations was
subject to severe delays. To ensure the continued timeliness of deliveries, the General Post Office sought ways to
resolve this issue.
Having investigated possible options, in February 1911 a Government Departmental Committee
recommended the construction of an ingenious underground electric railway with driverless trains - the first of its
kind anywhere in the world. In 1913 the Post Office (London) Railway Bill was passed as an Act. The new
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railway was to consist of 6 ½ miles of tunnels at an
average of 70 feet below ground. It would connect
the West and East ends of London via eight stations
and reduce the time taken for mail to cross London
from many hours to just 30 minutes.
Tunnelling began in 1914 and was completed in
1917 but, with raw materials diverted in support of
the ongoing war effort, the Treasury would not allow
the Post Office to order or install any operating
equipment, including track. The tunnels were instead
used to protect art treasures belonging to the
National Portrait Gallery and the Tate Gallery. The
Price of materials remained high for some time
following the end of the War, meaning that work on
the railway did not resume until 1923. It finally
opened on 5th December 1927,13 years after the
ground was first struck.
Designed to run trains just a couple of feet in
width, Mail Rail's tunnels are much smaller than on
London's passenger underground although the
stations look much the same, with grand circular
walls and the familiar sound of approaching trains.
Each train was able to carry four mail bag
containers, every container holding an average 15
bags of letters or 6 bags of parcels. At its peak, that
equated to more than 6 million bags of mail a year around 4 million letters every day.
The railway played a pivotal role in mail transportation for 76 years. It continued, rarely interrupted - the
trains ran throughout the Second World War, a testament to the skilled engineering and maintenance teams that
kept the system running. Despite the vital role the railway had played, declining use and closure of offices above
stations meant it eventually became uneconomic to run. In 2003 the system was suspended and today remains
closed, save for a team of three engineers who maintain the tunnels. Although unique, Mail Rail isn't the only
example of ingenious ways of moving the mail.
Submarine Mail
Although first used during the First World War, perhaps the most interesting episode in submarine mail
history occurred during the Spanish Civil War. By August 1938 Republican strongholds were becoming
increasingly isolated as the Nationalists, under General Franco, took control of much of the mainland and many
of the Balearic Islands. Catalonia, home to Republican capital Barcelona, was cut off from other Republican
outposts in the southeast, and Minorca (the only Balearic Island to support the Republicans) was isolated in the
western Mediterranean. With air, land and sea under the control of the enemy, the Republicans looked beneath
the waves to re-establish contact. On 12th August 1938 a submarine carrying mail to the Republicans in Minorca
left Barcelona harbor, arriving safely in Mahon at 1 pm the following day.
Other Methods, such as Rocket Mail and Railplane (using a monorail) were generally unsuccessful.
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