Sixteen members and two guests attended the CISS Member’s Meeting at the Royal Philatelic Society London on Saturday, 14 September. The day’s programme commenced with the traditional room auction seeing 66 lots going under the hammer. Although only 28 lots were sold, prices realised were at reserve or well above asking price. In all £495 was realised, with the highest price attained was for a Jersey (June 1945) Passive Resistance Acknowledgement letter from the States of Jersey which realised £65, against a reserve of £3.00!

The theme for members’ displays was anything relating to “Letters W, X, Y and/or Z”, with many varying interpretations of the letters on show. In all nine members provided displays for members to enjoy with the majority centred on material that covered the Channel Islands and WW1 and WW2, and a very rare Jersey ship letter handstamp on an item of mail from West Africa bound for London, that was routed via Jersey. The nine members providing displays were as follows: Jon Aitchison, Richard Flemming, Roger Harris, David Laurillard, Gerald Marriner, Alan Moorcroft, Nick Stuart, John Triggs and David Winnie.

Please find the link to the ABPS News – Autumn edition below.

ABPS News - Autumn 2024 edition (27 downloads )

A warm welcome to the following members have joined the Society since the beginning of 2024:

Peter OReilly – Middlesex

Bryan Pill – Guernsey

Benjamin Miller – Suffolk

Steve Norman – Warwickshire

Harold Ford – Georgia, USA

Lee Quinn – Hertfordshire

Anthony Ward – Lancashire

Malcolm Ashton – Suffolk

Richard Cornick – Jersey

Bernard Lowry – Shropshire

Paul Ferbrache – Guernsey

The CISS Full Committee has agreed to reduce the price of Ron Brown’s book The German Occupation of the Channel Islands 1940 – 1945 from £20.00 to £15.00 inclusive of UK/CI post and package. For further information on this book, or any of the other publications in the Society’s book stock, please visit the ‘Publications’ page of the website.

With the recommendation of the Executive Committee, I wish to inform Members that the amendments to the Society’s Rules (as published on the Society’s website 21 June 2024) were approved at the 74th Annual General Meeting held on Saturday, 6 July 2024. The updated Society’s Rules can be accessed by clicking on the ‘Membership’ link in the toolbar and opening ‘Society’s Rules’.

Richard Flemming, Secretary

For those CISS members intending to travel to London on Saturday, 20th April 2024 for the Member’s Meeting at the RPSL please note that the meeting will be starting at 10.30am instead of the usual 11.00am start time. Tea and coffee will be available from 10.00am. As there are 700+ lots in the room/postal auction this will give members attending in person the opportunity to view the items before the auction commences at 11.00am sharp. It is anticipated that the auction will be completed by 1.00pm. If any member wants to bring a display along for the afternoon session the theme is “Transport”. Small, 16 or 32 sheet displays preferable.

If there is any rail strike action on the day I will try and let you know as soon as possible.

Four of the C.I.S.S. members, who entered the 2024 Annual Competition Day, were present to receive their certificates from C.I.S.S. President, David Laurillard at the Royal Philatelic Society London on Saturday 10th February.

In all, there were eight entries for the 2024 Competition Day and these can be seen by clicking on “Competitions” and opening the “Annual Competition 2024” section. To view each individual display please click on the sheet shown for each of the eight entries.

ALSO CELEBRATING LONG-TERM MEMBERSHIP OF THE C.I.S.S.

Congratulations also go to the following members who have achieved significant milestones in their membership of the Channel Islands Specialists’ Society:

Bryan Elliston and Thomas Cowley on achieving 30 years continuous membership.

Paul Balshaw, Peter Cornish, Rodney Beale-Broughton and Steve Wells on achieving 50 years C.I.S.S. membership.

Thank you all for your loyal support and friendship.