The meeting held at Oakham on May 28th was deemed by all who attended to have been a great success. Some attendees were delayed by damage to the road and rail network by the previous nights Thunderstorms. Lightning strikes had brought down roadside trees and also played havoc with railway signalling.
We therefore started a little later than expected at 10.45 with Hugh Feldman’s marvellous display on Mailcoach routes, a precursor to his upcoming book on the subject, and Mark Bailey displaying 32 sheets from his highly detailed collection of covers sent to and from George Patrick Campbell, in Jersey between 1887-1903.
Keith Wright then showed a fascinating frame of Bristol Ship letters alongside Mike Kentzer’s 2 frames of Scarborough Postal History and some rare Free franked material, including a Waterloo subscription entire; finally Graham Winters gave a display of Postage Dues to and from GB with some rare destinations included.
After Lunch, John Sussex showed items from his collection of Mail sent to and from the Scottish Islands. Gerald Marriner showed 3 frames of the German Occupation of the Channel Islands and the problems caused by stamp shortages, as well as the German occupiers trying to censor letters which had been sent from one Island to the next by sending them to Paris. And Richard Jagielski showed some rare and quite poignant material from his collection centred on the Polish Forces in Italy in WW2.
Our president Clive Jones showed a wide range of covers and prestamp entires centred on Hull and the surrounding villages.
And the organiser Marc Oxley showed some unusual Fronts from his collection of Free Franked material, including one sent during the period that Viscount Goderich was the Prime Minister. He was Prime Minister for only 5 months from 31st August 1827 – 21st January 1828. So, items signed by him when in Office are rare. He also showed a number of blatant abuses of Privilege and a possible Forged Frank, sent by the MP’s brother.
This is the second time it has been staged in Oakham and we plan to make it an annual event, so will be returning next year on May 27th, which is the last Thursday of the month, in 2027.