On Tuesday February 20th, Stratford upon Avon Philatelic Society members visited Banbury.
We started with Alan Rogers and George V stamps. The first definitive set of his reign was based on a ¾ profile head with the King in Naval uniform, called the Downey head. The stamp had a poor reception and attempts made to improve the design resulted in a variety of dies, papers and watermarks. Eventually it was replaced with the profile head. The seahorses are one of the most highly regarded of British stamps, in print from 1913 to 1934. We saw examples from the different printers over this period.
Verena Rogers displayed covers from the Great War. The material showed civilian and military censor marks as well as field post office and naval postmarks. The material also included messages from the sender, usually a soldier on active service and all trying to give an upbeat message regarding life on or near the front line.
Alan Godfrey’s display of bus parcel post was something most of had not seen before. The service started in 1915 and grew rapidly, with Midland Red becoming a leading player. A significant part of the service was delivering newspapers and periodicals, but there were also a few specialised users – newspaper reporters filing copy or photographs, and pools coupon entries. Generally you went to a depot to drop off and collect, but Alan showed covers with a bus ticket, purchased on the bus and attached to an envelope.
We finished with Peter Collyer and postcards from the early 1900’s, covering themes from Costa Rica, Peru, sugar production and horse racing.
Next meeting will be the club Robson cup competition at 7:30pm on February 20th at Hanwell Fields Community Centre. The Banbury Stamp Society is on-line at ‘www.banburystampsociety.co.uk’, or contact John Davies on 01295 255831.