First may I heartedly welcome all the new members who have joined the Channel Islands Specialists’ Society over the past year, especially those from outside the United Kingdom.
Next may I, on behalf of all our members, say a big ‘Thank you’ to your dedicated committee for giving their time, energy, enthusiasm, brainpower and general hard work over the last twelve months to ensure the Society remains, what I believe to be, one of the best of its kind. The number of members attending the meetings in London is gradually rising back to pre-pandemic times and we hope that those of you that cannot get there in person will join us via ‘Zoom’ for the far ranging and very interesting displays, no matter where you live. May I also thank all those members who have provided displays and articles over the year and thus kept the Society very much ‘alive’.
Like me, hopefully you will read and be amazed at the amount of information available through our journal ‘Les Iles Normandes’ and on our website. Much time and energy has been put in recently to creating an index of all the articles in past issues of the journal and a search facility is available on the website. The time is nearly there for the task to be completed which will give you easy and quick access to all articles. We are always interested to know what the Channel Islands collecting interests of our members are, whether they be stamps, postcards, postal/social history or ephemera, so that we can keep up with those interests and provide relevant news and articles to enhance your collecting.
It is my ambition during my time as President to encourage more youngsters to take up Channel Islands philately and join us, the older generation, so that the Society has a good base on which to build its future. The past stamp issues and postcards of the islands illustrate their stories, while postal/social history items give the stories the personal touch. To this end I ask if you know a youngster within your or a friend’s family please try to encourage them to take up the hobby. What better way for them to spend £1? We will help them all we can.
