First meeting of 2022 is a visit from Ellesmere Port Philatelic Society

We kicked off the philatelic year in style with two very different presentations from members of Ellesmere Port Philatelic Society.

First up was a presentation by Glyn Wadley, charting the development of Royal Mail Greeting stamps from 1989 to 1998. It included examples of the stamps, booklets, publicity material, and First Day Covers along with some of the more unusual Smiler Sheets that also used the same stamps. During this period there were changes to the way the price was applied to the stamps as well as varieties of phosphor or phosphor bands and some novel shaped stamps that extended into the selvage.

After the interval, we were shown stamps and covers from the British Indian Ocean Territories by Norman Hudson. The first three frames showed a range of postmarks from the area and outlined geographically where this grouping of islands sit. The remaining frames covered the development of the first issues of BIOT and the errors within the overprints that existed and where, positionally, they sit on the full sheets of stamps.

The meeting was well attended and members really appreciated seeing some very different subject matter covered. The Society would like to extend its thanks to both Glyn and Norman for an excellent presentation.

Photographs of the presentations can be seen below.