8 Apr 2026 – President’s Newsletter
Spring is in the air, at least in the northern hemisphere and a good time for our gardens perhaps, but also for new beginnings.
Will ‘Artemis’ prove to be a new beginning for manned space travel? I was very disappointed to find the Apollo programme relegated to history at my children’s school and then on reflection for most people there has been no manned space flight outside Earth’s orbit in their lifetime. Perhaps we will see a new enthusiasm for astrophilately and spark a new generation to look at the story of space exploration.
Spring is also the time of year we finalise and send out our Report & Accounts, in writing this year’s ‘message’, I am struck by what a good year it has been for the RPSL’s Library and Collections. The digitisation projects progress well on a number of fronts; the Perkins Bacon records, the Experts records and the Philatelic Collections. These projects seem to inspire enthusiasm and generosity from members and we are delighted that they are progressing well. The more mundane reality though is the day to day where costs continue to rise and place real pressure on our General Funds. Trying to imagine the longer term and we do need to put our finances on a secure basis, one in which we have the capital funds invested to help sustain our organisation for many years to come and enable us to play a leading role in the build up to the bicentenary of the Penny Black.
The building of an endowment is a subject I will return to later in the year, but if you would like to know more sooner than that, please do feel free to contact me.
Boston World Stamp Show 23-30 May
The countdown clock is also ticking for the Boston 2026 World Stamp Show. This may well be the biggest show of the decade, 4000 frames of exhibits, half housed in our RPSL frames. You might need the whole week to see them all! Alongside ‘inspiration’ there will be plenty of time for ‘acquisition’ and to take part in a very full ‘socialisation’ programme. One of the highlights will be the RPSL dinner on the Wednesday night (27 May), please get your tickets in advance from the RPSL website.
The RPSL has taken a substantial booth and we very much look forward to meeting you there. There will be exciting display boards featuring the RPSL story and some historic artefacts from our Museum. If you would like to volunteer to take a turn on the stand there is a ‘sign up’ sheet on the website, just follow the link from the home page.
2025/26 Programme
Zoom Meetings
Malcolm Gascoyne presented the second part of his De La Rue story from playing cards to postage stamps on Tuesday 7 April. This was a change from the advertised programme and we are grateful to Malcom for stepping in and trust that Robert Hider will have recovered to give his presentation on a re-arranged date of 2 June. Therefore, Alan Moorcroft has agreed to step in on 5 May to give his zoom display entitled ‘Winch Brothers: Philatelists, Stamp Specialists and Connoisseurs’. Remember these meetings are open to all, though you do need to register via Eventbrite, so do tell your philatelic friends.
Thursday 9 April RPSL Meeting Day
Robin Pizer’s meticulous research into the fascinating interwar period of German Postal History will be on display. Robin had been unwell for some time and sadly did not live to give the display himself, but he did have the chance, with help from philatelic friends, to organise 54 frames of material for us. I am grateful to Robin’s family for the opportunity to put on his intended display, so do come and celebrate Robin’s research. Nothing comparable is available in English, and I suspect we will have some of our German members in attendance too as he has added considerably to the overall knowledge of this period.
Thursday 23 April RPSL Meeting Day
Our St George’s day meeting there will be another 1pm meeting by our Hon. Treasurer, Alan Druce, and will focus on the Perkins Bacon printing period of Great Britain. If you have, or have seen, his book published by the RPSL, you will know that you are in for a treat.
Regional Meetings
The North-West regional meeting took place at the Silk Museum in Macclesfield, a new venue, and also host to a display by the local Society put on the previous two days to celebrate their 60th Anniversary. Wisely, they called it ‘Letters from Macclesfield’ rather than ‘Macclesfield Postal History’ with the result of 250 members of the public coming to see it. The Museum were delighted and this shows that in the right ‘context’ philately still has the power to inspire.
The East Midlands regional meeting that was due to take place in March will now take place on 11 April and I hope to be there. Then there is the South-West regional meeting in Tiverton on 26 April and West Midlands on 16 May.
The overseas regional meeting of the Belgian members being organised by Patrick Maselis is also on 11 April.
The overseas regional meeting in Germany will take place from 19 to 21 June being organised by Dieter Michelson, Ralph Ebner and Harald Krieg.
Full details of these and our regional meetings can be found on the website. Do encourage non-members to attend as your guest. With fewer local Societies these days it is an opportunity for all and an opportunity to recruit new members.
London Philatelist April Issue
It has come to our attention that the April issue has been misprinted. Advertising has been placed in the wrong order by our printers. If you would like a corrected issue, our printers will send this to you free of charge. Please contact administration@rpsl.org.uk to arrange this.
Yours sincerely,
Simon
Simon Richards RDP FRPSL
President of The Royal Philatelic Society London
