I started collecting Channel Islands stamps in the late 1960s. My father worked for British European Airways (B.E.A.), which enabled our family to visit Jersey and Guernsey during the summer holidays. I became particularly interested in 1969 with postal independence.
A colleague my father had worked with at B.E.A., Dennis Burns, had moved to Guernsey when his parents bought a Bed and Breakfast located in Elm Grove, St. Peter Port. We stayed with them when visiting the island.
Dennis had a brother, Bob Burns, who was a philatelist and member of the C.I.S.S. He had purchased many Red Cross messages on the island at a time when locals were happy to sell them for 10/- (50p).
When he sold his collection, he gave me the rump of it including the piece above. Bob suggested I should join the society, which I did in 1974, and the rest , as they say, is history.
