I don’t know when Rob Chew was on the Isle of Jersey, but he did mail an aerogramme and it did get in transit postmarked on June 22nd, 2007, in Vancouver. This was approximately when Royal Mail decided that aerogrammes did not need to be postmarked, as they had already done with other forms of British postal stationery. The ruling may have extended to the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands in some way. These days I am almost always asking staff at postal outlets to cancel things I send. It seems that you cannot count on the postal authorities almost everywhere to do such.
One does wonder, if the postal authorities in Jersey know that their covers going overseas are promoting their product, why they cannot cancel all such mail, irrespective of such regulations?
I have written up this form TWICE before so I wanted to see if I could find out some more facts and this time to look up more illustrations, “Jersey Wild Flowers” and “Jersey Wildflowers”, Channel Islands philatelic sites, floral societies, floral philatelic societies, etc. Sometimes the non-philatelic groups write up articles on philatelic items that have more information on the philatelic item in them than the philatelic sources do.
As I remember Rob stated that they were still on sale at the post office along with another type of aerogramme, which would be correct in so much as the form was first issued on July 4th, 1995, at a selling price of 41p (36p in postage). There was another aerogramme issued on October 24th, 1995 (41p cost and 36p in postage). At the time of mailing the aerogramme rate from Britain was 48p so I am not sure what this form would have cost in 2007. There is an online illustration of one of these forms used in 2010 with 2p in postage added on. It has a Jersey postmark or two. I have just come across one online example used on August 29th, 2013 with a Jersey Philatelic Service hand cancel. Such would seem to indicate that the Post Office was still selling them then.
Checking on “POST OFFICE (FOREIGN POST PROVISIONS) (JERSEY) ORDER 2005” which gives a price of 58p for aerogrammes, it does not say whether this is the postage cost alone.
July 4th, 1995 was also the day and year that Jersey Post issued a set of stamps designed by Nick Parlett showing Jersey wildflowers to commemorate European Nature Conservation Year. Unlike the aerogramme the stamps were withdrawn from sale on July 31st, 1996. So to try and find something using that angle.
Reports made for the Council of Europe for the second session in Strasbourg, France, May 30th to June 1st, on the subject state that some postal administrations were to issue stamps to mark the year, but Jersey was not on their list;
“Many officials from postal services in countries participating in ENCY – Andorra, Cyprus, Croatia, Spain, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, the Netherlands, Portugal, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Romania, San Marino, Slovenia, Switzerland and the Holy See – have expressed a wish to support the campaign with a special stamp issue devoted to European Nature Conservation Year. Similarly several ministerial departments from various countries have chosen a postmark caption for their mail relating to ENCY and with the slogan “Look to the future, look after nature”
Lastly a number of countries are still working on their projects. Philatelists, to your tweezers!!” Please let the Editor know if you can help add to my knowledge.
