Aberdeen Philatelic Society
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January 2010 Newsletter
To download the current newsletter in PDF format : January 2010 Welcome to our centennial year which is marked by the enclosed special centenary syllabus covering the calendar year 2010. Members will receive invitations from the Lord Provost of Aberdeen to a civic reception in honour of the Society on the evening of 30th March, exactly one hundred years to the day from our foundation. Our Secretary will be compiling the final list of guests by mid January, so if you would like to be accompanied do let her know, if you have not already done so. It should be a memorable occasion. Another such occasion should surely be our centennial dinner which will be coincident with the ASPS Congress annual dinner at the Dewar’s Centre in Perth on Friday 16th April 2010. We will be joined by philatelists and spouses from all over Scotland and beyond, and the main after-dinner speaker, Susan Oliver, is by our invitation. The evening will commence at 1800 with the Tom Rielly Memorial talk, to be given this year by our President-elect, on the highly topical theme of Afghanistan. That will take place in the Hay Room of the Dewar’s Centre and will be followed at 1830 by a civic reception hosted by the Provost of Perth. Incidentally, the current Provost, Dr John Hulbert, has been very supportive of philatelic events in Perth. He has accepted our invitation to join us at the dinner but advised us that his dairy will be particularly full in 2010, which is the 800th anniversary of the granting of Perth’s Royal Burgh Charter with a very full programme of events, and it is just possible that he may not be able to attend in person. He has assured us, however, that he will be represented at our evening. The dinner follows the reception at 1900 in the adjacent Gannochy Room with members of various societies usually grouped together at their own tables. By about 2100 our guest speaker will doubtless be ready to regale us with some philatelic anecdotes. She will be followed (briefly) by the ASPS annual Presidential address on a subject as yet undecided but if you know any good philatelic jokes, let me know! Then there is the annual ASPS Awards ceremony, which will include a well deserved Award of Merit to our hard working Librarian. The various national competition trophies for 2010 will then be awarded and last of all, there is the ceremony of the signing of the Book of Scottish Philatelists, the signatory this year being Douglas Muir, the well-known philatelic journal editor and author, currently Curator of the British Postal Museum and Archive. Although now living in London, he is a Scot by birth and education, and he was nominated by a member of our Society. The evening’s events are usually concluded by about 2200. Dress code is smart casual. It should be very much Aberdeen’s evening, so we do hope that a goodly contingent of our Society members will be present. Places should be reserved in advance. Booking forms with costs will probably be in the next Scottish Philatelist and will be distributed at our regular Society meetings. Enquire from our Secretary who will have the details. ASPS has arranged for accommodation to be available at the Ramada Jarvis Hotel, Perth, at group booking rates. The hotel is ten minutes walk from the Dewar’s Centre and has its own car park. Rooms are available on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday on a bed and full Scottish breakfast basis as follows: double/twin room - £42pppn based on two sharing, or £52 single occupancy. To book a room please contact the Secretary or Newsletter for booking details. Early booking is recommended. Alternatively there are many other hotels and guest houses in Perth. Please advise if you have travel or accommodation problems, in case we can assist. The events on the evening of the 16th April are, of course, a part of the ASPS annual Congress which is a two day event this year, incorporating THEMATICA, an annual thematic competition. It is also part of 2010 Festival of Stamps. Setting up the exhibition will take place on Thursday 15th including our host Society’s display of up to 60 frames. Congress opens on 16th April from 1100 to 1730 and on Saturday 17th from 1000 to 1600. Dealers will be present on both days. Several of our members have expressed their intentions to participate in the national competitions this year, and we hope that the Open competition will also be supported once again by our members (entry forms are available from your Editor). It is surely appropriate that we do our best to support the event this year. There will be a Festival of Stamps opening ceremony on the Friday at noon. Our Librarian reports that the displays promised for Congress are encouraging. Some 45 members, including members who live in Gairloch, Moray, Montrose and Dundee have each offered a 16 sheet frame. We are using 2 frames for archive and forgery material and hope to have frames representing the collections of the late Jack Waterman, Ron Stables and Sandy Mackie. The balance to make up our 60 frame display has been achieved by asking a few members to contribute a second frame. The first showing of 25-30 frames was on 3rd December with the remainder showing on 14th January. Following those displays, all contributors should have received a large numbered envelope to identify their sheets. These should be handed to our Librarian containing the displays not later than the Society meeting before Congress, that is, 8th April. Our Librarian believes the display will truly reflect the wide ranging interests of our Membership and would like to thank all those who have willingly come forward, many displaying for the first time outside the club room. Well done! Various items of commemorative stationery have been produced for the centenary and may be ordered from the Librarian using the Contact page link on the website.
Centenary Year Syllabus – Many events will be taking place in this our Centenary Year which spans the current (2009-2010) and the 2010-2011 ‘seasons’. So that members can plan for events a special syllabus for the 2010 year has been prepared and a copy is enclosed. Any future happenings which may give rise to changes may be notified by e-mail to those members who have the facility. Depending on the importance of the update a hard copy may be available to those who do not have access to e-mail. A publication announcement has been circulated to the philatelic press and elsewhere beginning as follows:
The book continues to be available to members of Aberdeen PS at £7 and to members of other Societies affiliated to ASPS at £10 (£12 elsewhere). It has already sold well to members but please buy yourself a belated Christmas present, if you have not already bought a copy, if only to check whether you get a mention! Scottish Philately, the occasional newsletter of the Association of Scottish Philatelic Societies, will no longer be circulated as hard copy. Future issues will be emailed to Delegates of the member Societies, to circulate it among their members in any way they chose. I have circulated the latest issue (Issue 49, November 2009) to those dozen or so members whose email address I happen to have already. Would members of Aberdeen PS who have not received it and would like to be on the emailing list, please let me know. Any member who does not have access to email and would like to see Scottish Philately regularly, please let me know. Once the demand is known, we will look for a solution. Have you inserted an entry in your new 2010 diary to include the Society’s exhibition in the Maritime Museum, Ship Row, from 18 July to 14 November 2010? It will be a six-frame exhibition with the display changed every four weeks. The event will be launched on Sunday 18 July with a ‘Cheese and Wine’ reception in the Education Room of the Maritime Museum. Whilst you are bringing your new year’s diary up to date, enter the date of our Society display to the Royal Philatelic Society London on Thursday 11 November 2010. The Auction Secretary reports that the recent postal auction was a great success with total sales amounting to £6371, 209 bidders, (39 unsuccessful) and 147 packages despatched with the valued assistance of Udny PO! The Society welcomes four new members. We wish them a long and enjoyable association with the Society. |
