Displays with ‘J’...

FOURTEEN members of the Loughborough & District Philatelic Society, entertained fellow members at their meeting held on 26th October 2017, by presenting their displays on the letter “J”.

First to put up his display was Ray Tomkins with British P.O.s in Japan, followed by some Hong Kong issues overprinted and a set of Jubiland, Africa.

He was followed by Chas Ford with his display titled “Jolly Jay” that consisted of the Royal Visit to Southern Rhodesia, (the stamps having a variety of ‘shifts’), plus a map of the route, a photo of the Royal Family and of the Royal Train.

Derek Whitmore then displayed several items relating to the occupation of Jersey. Before doing so, he read out a letter from the German Military command setting out numerous ‘does’ and ‘don’ts’.

His display consisted of Jersey definitives overprinted with the Swastika of 1940, The 1d. and ½d with letters on each corner of the designs and the 1943 pictorial issue with the ‘GR’ cleverly inserted in the design. (unknown to the Germans).

After the war, he then displayed many designs up to the present day.

Christine Harris came next also with Jersey, but the items displayed were from her thematic display on Churches.

She managed to produce a stamp and photograph of each church in the 12 regions in Jersey. She ended her display by showing the St. James’s Church in Antiqua.

Brian Williams then displayed three sheets each with covers from Denmark and Norway. These were airmail covers from Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) showing special cancellations and the routes taken from Copenhagen to Tokyo and Oslo to Tokyo.

The route taken was significant as it was over the North Pole (the shortest distance to Japan). His letter “J” was in his title” Jumping to Japan”.

He was followed by another Brian – Brian Phipps with his “Junk Mail” display. The first sheet consisted of stamps and slogans from envelopes that had contained Junk Mail. He then displayed a sheet of stamps showing the Chinese ‘Junk boat’ definitives of 1913-33.

He said there were many faults in the printing, e.g. a mast of a Junk was broken at the top, a tear in the flag flown by another Junk and other minute errors. Something he enjoys finding. Don Hoult’s display was titled “Jocose”, which means humorous or amusing.

A set of 12 cards were produced, all relating to the Laws of Cricket, each one humorously drawn by Charles Crombie, a cartoonist for the Punch magazine (1906-1912), plus 4 cards (from a set of 8), by the cartoonist Bill Stott again relating to cricket, these were titled “Cricketing Years”.

He was followed by yet another Brian, Brian Buck with an interesting display of stamps depicting everyone shown on the stamps named John! (From King John to John the Baptist to John Lennon to John F. Kennedy etc.,). In fact, 15 sheets full of them!

Frank Setchfield then produced some interesting items from his “Button Badges” collection. These all related to Jubilees celebrated both in the UK and the USA and included Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee.

Ruth Percival then followed with a lovely display of Japanese Red Cross stamps. These included issues of 1904, (Caring for Soldiers); 1934, (first set of stamps showing the Japanese Red Cross insignia); a WWII American Parcel receipt card from a Japanese POW camp and many more items right up to 2011 issue supporting the Japanese Tsunami tragedy.

Lionel Blower came next with his complete Country Collection from “Jethou” in the Channel Islands. Followed by a display of booklet stamps (produced in sachets), from Jersey.

Colin Butler followed with his 15 sheets of Countries and items on the letter “J”. These included stamps from Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Johore and Jordan, plus “J” in the designs, e.g. Javelin thrower from Hungary, Jumbo Jet, Jubilees, President Jackson (USA) and so on.

The pen-ultimate display was given by the secretary, Rowland Tatton who displayed 15 sheets on the World Scout Jamborees. He said he was fortunate to have been chosen for two – the 7th Jamboree (1951), (where he received his King’s Scout Badge, from the then Chief Scout, Lord Rowallan), held in Bad Ischel, Austria and the JIM (Jubilee, Indaba and Moot) held at Sutton Coldfield in 1957.

The President, Garth Taylor then displayed the final displays of the evening with his “Joined Stamps of Czechoslovakia”, a country of which he is a specialist in. His display consisted of some beautiful mint miniature sheets of many designs with the stamps in the miniature sheets joined together.

Garth then gave a vote of thanks, to the members who had displayed for such a wonderful evening of great diversity, ingenuity and interest.

A great evening of displays in front of a large gathering of members.

The next meeting will be on Thursday 9th November, when Andrew Dove will present his display on New Zealand. RFT