A visit from Southport Philatelic Society

As is tradition, we like to invite members from other Philatelic Societies’ here in the North West to come and visit us. There are no rules or restrictions; we invite them to bring whatever they would like to share with us and over the years we have seen some fabulous material. This year was no exception.

Two speakers joined us for the evening’s event and brought with them two completely different philatelic angles. First, we were treated to a display focusing on the promotional material used by the Post Office to promote postage stamps inside the post offices and how this varied over the years, up to and including the size of the poster available for display at the counter which depended on the branch size. We then enjoyed an unusual display, one that most members confessed to having never seen before, on coil leaders, used specifically to facilitate the sale of stamps in vending machines.

After a short break, we had a final presentation on Presentation Folders, specifically those gifts created for, and given by, Post Office or Royal Mail to delegates at conferences and how they had evolved over the years. Some of these items are extremely uncommon so it was a pleasure to see them.

The vote of thanks was given by our Chairman Neil Slater.