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Membership Application Form To become a member, simply enclose a
cheque/money order along with a completed copy of the membership application
form, and signature. If under 18 please ask your parent or guardian to sign it
for you. Place all the information into an envelope, stamp it, and post to : I will send you a receipt by return mail. You can also contact Michelle by phone 04 0984 0815 or email michellelawson19@hotmail.com Report
from the Secretary Another great meeting with a good turn out, it’s great to see members bringing along parts, or all of their collections for the rest of us to see what their interests are. The dark horse in this aspect would have to be Murray, our president, until our last meeting I had never seen any of his collection, unfortunately I didn’t have the time to see what he had brought along, he had a pile along side of him of what must have been six albums and if it was of similar quality of those he brought to the last meeting then I have missed something special, just hope he can bring them to a future meeting. Its that time of year when Christmas is nearly upon us and at this meeting we discussed what to do about our November meeting, which will be the last for the year. I suggested that we should have a get together at a local club for a few drinks and a meal; Len Stone suggested that a local Italian restaurant would be a good idea and all present whole-heartedly agreed with him. Ross Bottomer, the clubs treasurer explained that the clubs finances were in very good shape and that under the clubs constitution the club can foot the bill for the food, naturally all present agreed with this idea and the motion to have the clubs Christmas party at the restaurant detailed below was carried unanimously. With all of the membership draws going to members living close by, I suggested that the folders I have containing recent issue post office packs and first day covers, and donated to the club by senator Jan McLucas, be split up and given to members attending the Christmas party, and sent to those members obviously disadvantaged by distance with no chance of attending the party, this motion was also carried unanimously. The Details of our next meeting
are; If you are not a financial member but would like to attend, you will need to become financial, I’m sure that Ross will bring along the membership receipt book. Cost of membership is $10 per year, March to February; you will certainly get your monies worth at this meeting alone. I haven’t been to this restaurant before but I am reliably informed that it is top rate with a fantastic menu; neat casual attire will be required. Looking forward to seeing you there, Alan Sparks (Secretary) Report
from the Secretary Due to business commitments I wasn’t able to attend this meeting and I am informed that there was a poor attendance of members, hence there is little to report. A new member joined the club this month, Harold Knight from Bowen Qld, Harold collects early decimal first day covers, in his application he has asked for any advise on the subject. As Harold has downloaded the application from our web site and living so far from Cairns he should email his questions to the address on the web site, other members with questions should do the same or attend meetings and if possible, bring your collection along with you. The clubs continuing promotion of providing free stamps for children is still going strong, earlier this month John, the Bungalow postmaster, asked me if I could supply some stamps for a picnic and barbeque day his children’s school are having in early June. John devotes a lot of time to the school, recently taking a class on one of the many local bushwalks and wanted the stamps to generate some philatelic interest within the young generation, needless to say a small carton containing many thousands of stamps was promptly delivered. There was a good mix of modern, old, pretty, ugly, large and small stamps, most of which had not been checked for value or rarity. For those members not aware of it, the stamps are sent to the club by various Cairns companies (and some intra and inter state one’s), government departments, individuals and from my own massive accumulations that I obtain when purchasing collections. The Cairns Stamp Club Inc, wishes to express its sincere thanks to all those who have, and those that continue to donate stamps, your considerable efforts are very much appreciated, its just a shame you don’t get to see the glassy eyed look of awe and wonder in the children’s eye’s when they are looking through the stamps. Thank You I have no wish to turn my report into an advertising page but as a service to members I would like to advise you that with my many purchases of collections, I have accumulated a large amount of quality Lighthouse stock books in varying sizes plus Hagner pages of all types and first day cover albums and pages, all are in good condition, should any member need any of these items please phone me on 07 40315342 they are available at greatly reduced prices. That concludes my report, the next meeting will be held at our usual meeting place, Mann, Judd and Bottomer (Accountants) building, 63 Mulgrave road, Cairns on the 18th of June 2003 at 7.30pm. Try and come along, and if you can bring part of (or all of) your collection, its always of interest to see what other members are collecting. Alan Sparks, Secretary. Report
from the Secretary Meeting opened 7.40pm. All positions declared vacant. Elected were; President; Murray Lawson,
unanimous, seconded by Tom. Other positions to be filled at a later date. Next AGM to be held during March 2004 at a venue
to be advised. Report
from the Secretary A good turn out of members made this one of the better meetings of late, several (including myself) brought along some of their collections for viewing. Bill King had some new additions to his vast thematic collection on a music theme, again beautifully presented as always. Ross Bottomer brought along his newly purchased “Tin Can Mail” covers collection that he recently purchased from Vance’s Auction of Canada. This to add to his already enormous collection, it took me well over half an hour just to skip through the new items. Along with these, he also brought his collection of Papua, New Guinea and early Papua and New Guinea issues, this included German New Guinea, which was near complete mint and used on a simplified basis. Papua consisted of many high values and varieties, including multiples and imprints, etc, again, both in mint and used format, it certainly made my mouth water. I brought along a collection of Cinderella’s, which I had purchased as part of a collection from “Stanley Gibbons. Melbourne” February auction, housed in 3 stock books, it was my hope that a member could help me with these as I want to sell them and have absolutely no idea what it is that I am wanting to sell other than Cinderella’s. Unfortunately, the members present seemed to have less of an idea of what they were than I did, if anybody has any info they think could be of help it would be greatly appreciated. During the Christmas break, I had the opportunity of attending “Stanley Gibbons, Sydney” December stamp auction, during a viewing session a couple of days before the sale, I met up with another club member, Bill McMahon who was also there on a buying mission. Bill has regular postal bid sales, and I list on Ebay, you can find my shop under “alan47stamps”. After viewing we took the opportunity of having a few drinks at one of the many local pubs, the auction house is right in the middle of the city. During the auction Bill managed to pick up 2 lots and I managed 3, though I had my eye on at least 7 but unfortunately got out bid. It amazed me that after travelling 2700 km I should meet up with another club member, and Ross Bottomer advised me that he will be in Sydney for a week or so in March and will be making every effort to attend the March 12th auction. With so many members visiting Sydney it may be worth considering having one of our meetings there! If you can make it to one of the Sydney Gibbons auctions, then you really should say hello to Danny Jurd the manager, a very helpful gentleman, who has a vast knowledge of all things philatelic, I am sure he will make you feel most welcome. All the major auction houses in Australia supply the club with their catalogues, and these are made available to members during meetings, those auctions that are also on the internet can be found on our website, simply click onto the links page and scroll down to Auction Houses. As I have stated above, I regularly list on Ebay, it’s an Internet auction where you can buy or sell just about anything that’s legal. Some very interesting statistics come from my customers, which are evenly divided between Australian and International. Firstly for those thinking that stamp collecting is dying a slow death, I can assure you otherwise, its just changing direction. One of the big things I have noted is that slightly more than half of my customers are female, and very active collectors at that. I find this strange as it doesn’t seem to add up where clubs membership is concerned, which could mean that clubs need to consider taking new directions. Another interesting statistic is with Australian stamps from the reign of King George Sixth, until earlier this year nearly all stamps from this era that I sold went to the USA, recently I have noticed some fierce competition from buyers and a sudden surge in Australian customer interest, its about time that this era got the local support it deserves. The clubs next meeting is the big one for the year, the Annual General Meeting, this is when board members are elected or re-elected, please try to attend this one, if you can’t then jot your preferences (nominations) down on a piece of paper and post it to us. Remember it’s your club, and the way you vote will determine the direction in which the club goes. Also its that time of year when membership renewals are due, please take the time to fill in the enclosed form, the information supplied will also help the club in determining its future directions. That concludes my report, the next meeting (AGM) will be held on the 19th March 2003, 7.30 pm, at the Mann- Judd- Bottomer Building, 63 Mulgrave Road, Cairns. Located a few minutes walk south of “Cairns Central Railway Station“, opposite the BP servo. Report from the Secretary Cairns Stamp Club Monthly Meeting 22/01/03 New year greetings to all, our first meeting for 2003 was held at Brothers Leagues Club, Manunda, where a meal and drinks were served to a good turn out of members and some visitors to the meeting. Lots of discussion about the holiday period and plenty of discussion about stamps were on the agenda. An elderly couple had brought along a very large accumulation of stamps for valuation; brought in on a trolley it was housed in stock books, albums, boxes and plastic containers. Mostly world stamps and covers, the majority were used with a smattering of mint, on and off paper. Though the leagues club was not the best venue to do a valuation, especially one of this size, members gave it their best shot. I asked how much was expected and about $4000.00 was the reply. This sort of valuation is always hard especially when people have such high expectations. It didn’t take long before I (along with other members) realised that much of the accumulation was badly affected by tone, some items had turned completely brown, and others stuck down. The only item of any real interest that I noted was a commercially used 5-shilling Sydney Harbour Bridge, however, even this had several pinholes and was badly age toned. Nobody had the heart to say that they would be lucky to get $100.00, though to be fair, closer examination may have revealed the odd gem. After previously poor turn outs for meetings, and many phone enquiries from members as to when and where the January meeting was to be held, a suggestion from “Bill McMahon” was to delay sending the secretary’s report until closer to the next meeting date, hence the lateness of this report, and hopefully less phone calls. Bill does a popular, regular postal bid sale, and brought part of his next sale along to the meeting for members to view. Mostly dealing in Australian, GB and British Commonwealth stamps, Bill produces a free catalogue, should you want to be put on his mailing list, let me know and I will forward your details to him. Past president and club member, Alan Devine, now a resident of Singleton NSW, sent me a rather interesting email to share with members a copy is attached. Should any member have an item of interest that they would like to share with other members, then please send it. Another piece of mail that should be mentioned, was a Christmas card from Vivek Aggarwal, with best wishes to all club members, Vivek is one off our overseas members who lives in India and is an avid collector of Australian stamps. If you have any stamps you would like sent to Vivek, please send them to me and I will make sure he gets them, I am sure he would appreciate this very much. That concludes my report, the next meeting will be held at our usual meeting place at; Mann, Judd and Bottomer (Accountants) building, 63 Mulgrave road, Cairns on February 19th 2003 at 7.30pm. Try and come along, and if you can try to bring part of (or all of ) your collection, its always of interest to see what other members are collecting. Report
from the Secretary Another great meeting, being the last for 2002, there was plenty to discuss. First on the agenda was an item in the November edition of “The Queensland Stamp Collector” concerning a visitor to Cairns who wished to attend our October meeting, went to the City Club (our old meeting place) and was told by staff that they had never heard of the Cairns Stamp Club. The City Club has undergone major renovations and refurbishment, with completion only a few weeks ago. New staff have been employed, including a new manager, hence the reason nobody knew of us. Visitors should phone me (Alan) on (07) 40315342 to find the location of our meeting place as our location and dates are flexible in order to meet member’s needs. Our next meeting on the 22nd January 2003, will be held at the Brothers Leagues Club, Anderson St, Manunda, from 6.30 pm. With many members being on holiday during the December-January period, it was decided that this date would be best for having a get-together; drinks and food will be available so please try to come along. As promised, a members draw took place, which consisted of three folders containing, Post Office Packs, First Day Covers, Mini Sheets etc. The lucky member was Bill McMahon from Edge Hill, Bill wasn’t present for the draw, and his prize will be sent to him shortly. As with all the presentation folders given to members throughout the year, Senator Jan McLucas donated them to the club, the Cairns Stamp Club would like to thank Senator McLucas for her support of the Club during 2002. Thank You. Suggestions for Club promotions next year included; A Special presentation First Day Cover. Unfortunately, First Day of Issue postmarks are only available in capital cities. An Overprinted (Cairns Stamp Club), limited numbered mini sheet was suggested. This possibility will be investigated with Australia Post and I will keep you informed. Another excellent suggestion was for the Club to have a presence at the opening of the beach and pool on the Esplanade. This is due to take place early next year and would be a great way to let Cairns residents know they have a Stamp Club. With such an influx of new residents over the past few years, it is important that we let them know that there is not only a Stamp Club, but a very good one, and that it can be accessed 24 hours a day worldwide via our website. The overall financial state of the club continues to remain sound, the day-to-day running continues smoothly and there is nothing to report here. That concludes my report for the meeting held on 20th November 2002. The next meeting will take place on the 22nd January 2002, at Brothers Leagues Club, Manunda, please try to attend; a good time for all is assured. Seasons Greetings and Best Wishes To All. Report
from the Secretary With so many
members sending their apologies (mostly due to illness), the meeting was a bit
of a let down when compared to the high attendances of most meetings this year.
To all those not feeling the best, we wish you a speedy get well and hope you
can make it to the November 20th meeting, which will be the final one
for the year. Several members, including myself, are heading interstate for the
holiday season, so it was decided that the best thing to do was to have a break
in December and have a meeting on the 22nd of January instead. Most
should be back by then, refreshed and ready to start a new year. If you have any
ideas or thoughts on what the clubs activities should be about during 2003,
please voice your opinions, and remember it’s your club. That concludes the shortest report yet; I hope I have much more to say next month. To all those not feeling the best, we wish you a speedy recovery and hope to see you at the next meeting. Next meeting is scheduled for 20th November 2002. Report
from the Secretary Another great meeting, which are becoming more relaxed and easy going with each passing month, plenty of laughs were on the agenda and with several members recently returned from overseas holidays there were plenty of photos to look at. First business of the day was to welcome a new member, Vivek Aggarwal, from Haryana, India. Vivek is very keen on Australian stamps, especially recent issues, and can’t get enough of them, he reckons they are the most beautiful stamps in the world, and we agree with him. Because of the high cost of producing the kids stamp packs and posters, it was decided to sell some of the recent issue stamps donated to the club for the kids packs. These we have in abundance and will not affect either the quantity or quality of the packs. A recent trial of selling on E-Bay (E-Bay is an auction conducted on the internet where you can sell just about anything), five lots were offered containing five different recent issue sets, containing 5 to ten sets of each. All were sold, with prices being realised from $5.00 (4), to $8.50 (1), there are the usual costs involved in listing, these include a listing fee and a final value percentage fee. Overall though the sale was successful, with all lots being sold to a gentleman in Texas USA. There will be ongoing listings with the proceeds being used to upgrade the quality of the packaging of the kids packs as well as paying for the posters and the many related costs, this will give the Club's bank account a well deserved rest. With over 1300 visitors to our website since late April, the possibility of sponsorship for the site was mentioned, this could be achieved providing the site is kept interesting and members continue to use the links page instead of their internet address listings. Every time you visit the website it registers, a profile of where visitors are located in the world can be obtained, and to date Australia is only just ahead of the UK, with the USA, Norway, Canada, Germany, Pakistan, Russia and India, not far behind and in that order. Surprisingly only 4 hits from New Zealand have been recorded, this is probably due to the fact that most of the philatelic clubs there have their own websites. This profile will influence any prospective sponsor, so come on members, use your web site and support your club. Members draw was conducted, which consisted of a post office folder containing the Albert Namatjira paintings issues in various forms, Len Stone won it. Another draw will be conducted at the October 16th meeting with a major draw conducted at the November 20th meeting. The Club would like to thank Senator Jan McLucas for donating the prizes and continuing to support the Club. An email received this week from Mowbray collectables, advised the Club that Stanley Gibbons Australia, now have a website and that all future auctions will be listed on the web, their address and a direct link can be found on the Clubs links page, also Stanley Gibbons, Sydney and Melbourne auctions, supply the club with its auction catalogues, these are made available to members at our monthly meetings. Danny Jurd from the Sydney auction, phoned me recently with information regarding the auction business, with some enlightening information that will go down well in an article concerning the selling and buying of philatelic and numismatic material and an article is definitely in the pipeline. With an average of 2 phone calls a week from people wanting to sell or value a collection, an article of this nature could serve a double purpose. The August-September issue of Stamp News, gave the club high praise in its editorial, a thank you email was sent to the editor John Leah, and a thank you posted on the front page of our website. It is hoped that the club will expand its efforts on promoting “stamp collecting as a worthwhile hobby” and that more members will become involved. It was also decided that in future the club would strive to use only quality recent issue stamps on its outgoing mail, I emphasise try because surprisingly they are not always available here in the far north and often the only way to obtain them is in packs, usually in gutter strips etc, its not easy having to separate them from the gutter strip, and even these are not always available. This initiative will give members even more value for their membership dollar. That concludes my report; the next meeting is scheduled for October 16th 2002. Report
from the Secretary There is not a great deal to report for this meeting, as usual the business side of things are pretty much taking care of themselves. Some concern was expressed at the fact that we have not heard from the organisers of the Cairns Show, this will be held on the 17-19 July, arrangements need to be made for our stand and which members will be available on these days. Stamp packs have been assembled and are ready to be handed out to kids on the days, if worse comes to worse, I am prepared to stand outside the main gate and hand them out, though to be fair to organisers of the show, they could be having difficulties with the insurance fiasco that abounds at the moment. A membership renewal was received from Sid Clarke of Innisfail. Sid was previously a member who like many others did not renew their membership last year, it's good to see that some of the past members have enough faith in the club to renew their membership this year. Sid is getting on in years and hasn't been able to attend a meeting for some time, which is all the more reason for the club to provide as much information as possible so as to keep everyone fully informed. Sid's collecting interests include stamps from Australia, P.N.G., Pacific Islands, Malta and Ceylon. Ross informed me that he has started work on an article about advertising on the back of early New Zealand stamps, this is a fascinating subject that I am sure all members will be interested in reading about. Ross also brought along to the meeting his collection of Tin Can mail from Tonga, all on covers. This is another part of philately I know little about, and I am sure others are in the same boat (so to speak!), so it looks like another article is in the making for Ross. Another article in the pipeline is one from Jason, who told me that he was now laying the groundwork for an article on state stamps, this should appeal to many collectors as these have increased in popularity enormously over the past ten years. I would like to remind members who are not fortunate enough to have a computer, that should they require any information about a subject, I will be more than happy to look for it on the world wide web and send you a print out. The computer is a very powerful tool and information abounds on every subject imaginable, you will need to be very specific, just let me know what it is you need to know and I will get back to you as soon as I can. To give you an idea of what I am talking about, yesterday I went to a site dedicated to stamp forgeries, each country was listed separately, then the various forgers names, then images of the genuine and forged stamp, the amount of information given was truly amazing. If you have a computer, this site and money other fantastic links are available on our web site, so please get used to going there first, the more visitors we get to our site augers well for the future, sponsorship of the club will be sought soon and this will mean even better facilities and service to members. A subject I would like to mention and need to be very careful as to what I say (and also not to make it sound like a case of sour grapes) is about stamp auction houses and their need to advertise their estimated price and the realised price. You see, that if the total estimated price for the sale was (for instance) half a million dollars and the realised price was a million, then this would attract sellers to place stamps in their future auctions. Though on most items or lots it is fair to let the market decide what the value is, however, with some lots the estimate should be considered as a good guide as to its actual worth at auction. The lots I refer to are bulk lots with a bit of everything included, and where proper viewing is not always possible. My concern is with a lot I placed a bid on at a larger major philatelic auction house. The lot was listed as a mystery carton with an estimate of $500, so a bid for this amount was placed. I had no chance of viewing the lot because of distance, however I was prepared to take my chances and felt confident I would get my money's worth should I be successful. The day after the auction I phoned and by chance happened to speak to the head person, I asked him how I fared and his reply was very blunt, it sold for $2700, his tone was that of "what did you expect?". Well I can tell you what I expect, and that is fair dealing and trading. Had the lot sold for six, seven hundred, or even a thousand dollars I would have thought that someone had found something they really wanted and I would have wished them well, this amount though is well over the top. I just hope the auctioneer clicked as to what was happening and reported his concerns. The whole thing reminds me of the bad old days in the mid 1970s-80s where the shonkies ruled supreme and stamp collectors deserted in droves, and rightly so! Should you come across what you consider to be deceptions, please contact your philatelic organisation, and, if you have one, an office of fair trading, and express your concerns, let's get rid of disreputable dealers and not let them get a foothold. At the meeting I asked if it would be possible to include in this posting to members, one of my flyers about various markets I attend and also a slightly different version of the latest article to appear on our web site (By different I mean the addition of the last paragraph and my address, these do not appear on the web site version, this version can be found on the Australian Stamps web page. The flyers are also distributed at the various markets I attend), in exchange for this I would pay all printing and posting costs for this sending. Approval was given and I would like to thank all members. That concludes my report; the next meeting is scheduled for July 17, 2002. Our next membership draw consists of three embossed post office presentation folders housing recently released stamp issues and some post office paraphernalia. These folders are presented to federal members of parliament by the post office and were donated to the club by Senator Jan McLucas, our sincere thanks go to the senator. The contents of the folders are as follows; (1) 2002 Lighthouses of Australia, First Day Cover with four sheet perf stamps and a folder containing the same stamps. (2) 2002 Flinders-Baudin Bicentenary, joint issue with France, pair on First Day Cover plus the same in folder, also P O printed information. (3) 2002 Australian Legends, set of five on First Day Cover plus a sheetlet of ten along with P O printed information. Please remember that these prizes can only be won if you are a financial member of the Club. Membership is just $10.00 a year (March-February). Click here to find out details of the winner of the March 2002 Membership Draw Report
from the Secretary Firstly;
Club members would like to extend their sincere thanks to my daughter, Victoria
(who is the Clubs web site designer and webmaster), for her help and continued
support, it is very much appreciated. Victoria is presently recovering from
major surgery, and on behalf of all club members, we wish you a speedy recovery.
Victoria is not a member of the stamp club. This
month we welcome a new member, Gloria Meti, from Brighton Le Sands NSW. Gloria's
collecting interests include, stamped covers, silk stamped covers and
china-ware. Gloria has internet access and discovered our site on the internet. Not
much to report on the business side of things as everything seems to be running
smoothly. Letters received included one from the Queensland Premier, Peter
Beattie, the other, from the leader of the Federal Opposition, Simon Crean. Both
expressed support for the club and wished us every success with our endeavours. Increasing
numbers of members at Club meetings is very encouraging, this month two members
from Innisfail attended, Mark Nugent and Jason Sou. Mark brought along his
collection of German
stamps, housed in, I don't no how many albums, as I only had time to view one.
The one I did view contained stamps from 1937 to 1951, with many overprints etc,
near complete and all in mint condition. Mark told me that he designs and prints
his own album pages, truly amazing stuff. Jason came armed with his coin
collection and an album of Australian state stamps, unfortunately I didn't have
time to view either, but knowing
Jason I feel sure that they were immaculately presented. Bill King
brought along part of his collection of European stamps, as always, beautifully
set out. Ross Bottomer came along with some of his Australian States collection.
And Ross, I have to ask the question, is there anything you don't collect? Tom
Stallbaum had some German stamps on covers, again I didn't have time to view
them, however, the last time he brought some in they were from the Nazi era, and
once again, truly amazing stuff. It
has become apparent that the Club should consider holding an open day soon, with
such a vast amount of talent, and material of such high quality (exhibition
grade really), it couldn't help but be a success. Jean
McGuigan advised members that she would not be attending meetings again until
September Jean is taking a well deserved holiday to England, Spain and
Ireland, we will miss your presence, however all members wish you a fantastic
holiday, please come back safe and well . That
concludes my report, the next meeting is scheduled for the 19th of June. A
moment with Murray I
would like to sincerely welcome all "clickers on" to our new site,
both personally and on behalf of the club members. I thought all this web stuff
was old hat by now, but it appears that very few stamp clubs in Australia have
caught on to the idea. I
shall probably never be a "clicker on" myself, but I have been around
long enough to witness the premature demise of many an organisation, which
demise I safely blame on their lack of foresight and the failure to update their
"aims and objectives". In other words, they did not bend with the
times. I am a small cog and the larger wheel, which is our Club, will survive,
with or without me, providing it does some bending. My
heartfelt thanks to those members who assisted me throughout the past year and
of the activities we were able to manage. Also I wish to thank those of you who
had sufficient faith to re-elect me for the "n"th term, and I offer my
congratulations to those members who were elected, or re-elected, to their
respective positions at the all important A.G.M. My
telephone number was placed in the yellow pages a few years ago, mainly with a
view to attracting enquiries from collectors who were visiting the district, and
for those who may have wished to join our club. To date, I cannot recall having
answered one such call, certainly none that attracted any new members, or
visitors. It has however, attracted dozens of calls from persons who have
"inherited" collections, etc; and I have referred them to either Tom
Stallbaum or Alan Sparks, with unknown outcomes, generally. With the club's web
site now up and running, I cannot see that the yellow pages entry is of any
further use. Your comments are invited. The
library is now safely housed in the treasurers, (Ross Bottomer's) office, and is
missing several books, mainly Stanley Gibbons catalogues. These are required to
be returned each month so that other members can have access to them, defaulters
can be fined, so please return them promptly in future. Ross has stated that he
has no problem with the club meeting at his office conference room, as it
indicates a presence after hours. All
former and intending new members will be made most welcome at meetings. The
directions that the club may take will continue to be discussed, and it is just
possible that, at meetings in the near future, people will be able to contact
the club "direct", via email. With
increasing membership, we will be able to re- introduce our circuit books for
distribution to those interested members. Remote members may also like to write
or email the club with their thoughts, enquiries and articles, to be included on
our pages. Lets keep the whole thing as interesting as possible and also up to
date. Since we are now at the cutting edge of this new technology, lets keep
ourselves there! My best wishes to all, more soon. Report
From The Secretary As mentioned last month, the club now has another web site. It was discovered that Mission Australia created the unauthorised site as a work for the dole scheme, after a few stern words from me, the site was handed to us with an explanation that it was always their intention to do so. The matter as to what to do with the other site was brought up at the meeting. A brilliant suggestion (in my opinion) from Len Stone , was to hand the site to the younger members for them to create a kids web site. If you have any ideas, would you let me know so that further discussion can take place and a decision made. The new club posters were shown at the meeting and approved, your copy is enclosed. It is hoped that eventually these posters will be seen throughout the far north. As you can see a poster was sent to the Queen, Prime Minister etc, a copy of the letter accompanying the Queens poster is attached. A new article appeared on the web site earlier this month, listed under ‘stamps-history’, it is a brief history on the creation of the first postage stamp. Unfortunately the stamp hasn’t photocopied to well, however I can tell those interested to know that it’s an 1840 penny black, die 1B with red Maltese Cross post mark. The first of our members draws will take place at our next meeting on the 15th May 2002, the two 1929-30 1/- small multiple watermark kangaroo stamps, in fresh mint unhinged condition will be on display at the meeting.Though you do not need to attend in person to win the prize, you do need to be financial, so if you haven’t paid your membership yet, or would like to become a member, be sure to do so before the 15th The winner, if not present at the meeting, will receive their stamps by registered mail.Our second members draw will consist of three Australia Post presentation folders, containing recent issue stamps. The beige coloured folders have an embossed 1928 Kookaburra on the cover, a complete list of contents will be listed next month. These presentation folders are distributed to federal members of parliament, and are eagerly sought after by collectors. These have been kindly donated by Senator Jan McLucas, a letter of thanks has been sent to the Senator, along with a personalised poster. Bill King brought along some stamps for sale, it never ceases to amaze me at how well presented his stamps are. Should anyone want to know how to present a collection, then Bill is the person to talk to. He is also a thematic collector of stamps concerning music, for those of you who haven’t seen his collection I can tell you it’s a feast to the eyes, and as always beautifully presented. Alan and Rita Devine, members from Singleton, NSW, emailed me earlier this month to say they will be visiting Cairns later this year and will be attending one of our monthly meetings. It will be good to meet Alan & Rita, and I am sure the members present will give them a hearty welcome. I would also like to mention one of the clubs more senior members , Jean McGuigan. Jean makes the long drive from Gordonvale with her husband at the wheel, and rarely misses a meeting. She always has something constructive to say, always ready to participate. Jean, you are a treasured member of the club! That concludes my report, the next meeting will be held on the 15th May, anyone wanting to attend that doesn’t know the way, just contact me (the details are on the poster) and I will be happy to give you directions The Secretary Report
F On March 20, 2002, the club had its annual general meeting, the following members were elected to positions: Murray
Lawson (President) 07 40332211 Len
Stone (Vice President) Ross
Bottomer (Treasurer) Alan
Sparks (Secretary) 07 40315342, Fax 07 40310130, Email
alan47@bigpond.com ;
PO Box 407, Bungalow, Qld, 4870 It
was decided that the club should continue to meet on the third Wednesday of the
month at 7.30pm, 63 Mulgrave Rd, Cairns. Members, guests and visitors are
invited to attend. Should you require directions, please contact me. It was also decided that the club should have a stand at this years Cairns Show, on the 17, 18, 19 July. For the benefit of interstate and overseas readers, this is the equivalent of an Easter Show, it's one of the largest outside of a capital city, with lots of fun and plenty to interest young and old alike. If you're in town on any of these dates, make a point of coming along, be sure to visit our stand and see what the club's all about. At the show we will be continuing our promotion of stamp collecting as a worthwhile hobby; with stamp packs given to kids. Since
March last year we have been distributing stamp packs to primary schools
throughout the Far North, with over 50,000 stamps given to kids during 2001. At
the show it is expected that 100,000+ stamps will be required Cairns
businesses etc, are continuing to donate stamps from their incoming mail,
however these will not be near enough. Should you have any stamps lying around
that would be suitable for the kids packs and could donate them, please post
them to me at the above address, your time and efforts will be very much
appreciated . A
member of our club and very welcome first time attendee to one of our
meetings, was Jamie McNab, who travelled all the way from Mossman QLD. Jamie's
collecting interests include first day covers and maximum cards. Jamie's also a
bit of a computer buff and it is hoped that in the near future he will write an
article for the web site. Ross
Bottomer
brought along part of his collection of early NZ stamps, with advertising
printed on the back. This is a most unusual and very interesting part of
philately that until now my knowledge was limited to the Tattersalls adds on
Australian KGV heads issues. This would make a very interesting article on our
web site and I am sure that many visitors to our site, like myself, would be
very interested to learn more, how about it Ross! Murray
Lawson has indicated that he will get his head down soon and write an article
for the site. With his dry sense of humour and many anecdotes, it is eagerly
awaited! A
print-out of the web site was posted out to all members on the 26 March, along
with an information letter. Members will continue to receive updates at regular
intervals to keep you completely up to date with the clubs activities. The first of our lucky membership draws feature a pair of fresh mint, 1 shilling, small multiple W/M Roos, one normal the other perforated small O.S. Stanley Gibbons catalogue numbers 109 and 0116. This will be a regular feature, with quality stamp(s) given to one lucky member who is financial at the time of drawing. The
membership draw of 2 mint 1/- small multiple kangaroo stamps, was held on the
15th of May 2002. Drawn by Jean McGuinan, the lucky winner was Ross Bottomer. Also starting soon will be a club website auction, available to everyone and closing at regular intervals, it will feature quality items with low and very competitive reserves. So what are you waiting for?? Membership is just $10.00 a year (March-February), with auction site available only to those 18 years or over. To become a member, simply enclose a
cheque/money order along with your details (name, address, collecting interests
etc.) and signature. If under 18 please ask your parent or guardian to sign it
for you. Place all the information into an envelope, stamp it, and post to : I will send you a receipt by return mail. You can also contact Alan by phone (07) 4031 5342 or fax (07) 4031 0130 or email alan47@bigpond.com
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Membership Draw 