Items by: Richard Flemming

Thirteen members and one guest attend the Members’ Meeting as part of EuroPhilEx 2025 held at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham. Six members provided some enlightening displays:
Richard Flemming – Mail from the Channel Islands to Overseas Destinations 1845 – 1880 David Winnie – Early Channel Islands Kragg cancellations Nick Stuart – Forwarding Agents Gerald Marriner – Overseas Destination Mail James Grimwood-Taylor – Many Different Islands, including early Alderney and Sark items Nick Martin – French Channel Island Mail: Chausey, Mont Michel

Whilst the official opening of this event was scheduled at 4pm on the Friday, those members of the Society who had arrived early were able to participate in two events, ably organised by John Triggs, On Friday morning, 12 members and guests visited Guernsey Post headquarters at Envoy House for a tour of their updated facilities to include the Philatelic Bureau. At 1.30pm, there was a meeting of the Royal Philatelic Society London hosted by John at which 15 members and guests were entertained by displays, specifically of non – Channel Island material. The quality of material shown was extremely high and everyone was “royally” entertained.
The official opening of the CISS Anniversary weekend commenced for the 43 members and guests in the Grande Havre Suite at the Peninsula Hotel, Guernsey with an informal tea and coffee “Welcome” by the Chairman, David Winnie. A most interesting standing display of postcards was also provided by John Triggs titled “Candie House – Priaulx Library estate history – Postcards of Priaulx Library, Candie grounds and garden”. The evening’s splendid hot buffet was followed by the new “Single Sheet to tell a Story” competition which saw seven members provide a wide range of material. Following the voting, scrutinised by our Chairman, he was “overjoyed” to announce that Jill Flemming, with her display titled ‘The Monnai Church’ was the winner, with Richard Flemming a close second, something Jill will remind him for the rest of his life!
Saturday morning commenced with the viewing of the 596 auction lots and dealers’ bourse, with the dealers seeing some brisk business. At 11.00am prompt the main auction commenced, with Nick Stuart acting as Auctioneer, Bryan Elliston recording the bids and Jill Flemming and John Triggs acting as ‘runners’. Of note were the prices realised for some of the Allix postcards, with many far exceeding their reserve.
The afternoon was taken up with two invited major members’ displays, commencing with Gerald Marriner showing “The Channel Islands Internee Mail Service”, followed by John Triggs displaying “Guernsey Parish Sub-Post offices”. These were particularly well received.
The evening celebrations began with a pre-dinner drinks reception provided by the Society with special guests, Bridget Yabsley and Lorraine Ecuyer from the Guernsey Post in attendance. This was followed by a most excellent four-course Anniversary dinner. David Winnie then addressed the members and guests by detailing the history of the Society over the last 75 years and what steps were being taken to retain and recruit new members to ensure future of the Society going forward. The final “surprise” was a magnificent CISS 75th Anniversary cake which was ceremonially cut by Beryl Laurillard, wife of CISS President David Laurillard.
Despite the late-night finish, 12 members, who were presenting, were up bright and early on Sunday morning to provide a wide range of Channel Islands material for the “Members’ Displays” session. These were most enjoyable and much appreciated by the audience of members and guests. The presentations were provided by:
John Triggs – Guernsey Sub-Post Offices
David Winnie – New acquisitions
Richard Flemming – German Occupation of Alderney 1940 – 1945
Gerald Marriner – An Unusual Red Cross Message Form
Robert Corden – New acquisitions
Brian Austin – Liberation
Julian Bagwell – Guernsey Ship Letter Handstamps
Peter Williams – Two items relating to his childhood in the Channel Islands
Roger Harris – Channel Islands Airmails
John Stranger – 100th Anniversary of Flown Cover
The 75th Anniversary Weekend meeting ended at 1.00pm, with Chairman, David Winnie, thanking all those members and guests who attended for making the Weekend such a memorable occasion.

Please find a copy of the ABPS Spring 2025 journal attached.

Fourteen members and three guests attended the 2025 Annual Competition Day held at the Royal Philatelic Society London. Twelve competition entries were submitted to Julian Bagwell, CISS Competition Secretary, covering four competition classes: Occupation Postal History and Markings, Postal History, Stamps and Postcards, with entries from the UK, Channel Islands and New Zealand. The entries were judged by Graham Winters and Patrick Reid prior to the event, with Graham Winters attending the RPSL on the day to provide valuable feedback on each competition entry.

Further information on all of the 2025 competition entries can be found on the CISS website at www.ciss.uk, and click on the ‘Competitions’ page, then open ‘Competition 2025’. Just by clicking on each individual image all pages of each competition entry can be viewed.

Graham Winters with those 2025 Competition entrants who were present at the RPSL. From left to right: Bryan Elliston, Richard Flemming, Julian Bagwell, Graham Winters (one of the two judges for the 2025 competition entries), David Winnie, Nick Stuart and Jill Flemming.

Julian Bagwell, CISS Competition Secretary, with Graham Winters

At the Member’s Meeting held at the Royal Philatelic Society London on Saturday, 8 February 2025, long-standing member of the Channel Islands Specialists’ Society, David Gurney FRPSL, was awarded the status of Honorary Life Membership in recognition of his substantial contribution to the Society.

David joined the Society in November 1970 and in September 1974 became Packet Superintendent, a position he held until June 1995 when he became Auction Secretary. In June 1999, David took on the position of Journal Editor, a post which he held until December 2023.

Not only has David held many committee positions, he has produced numerous textbooks on Channel Islands philately, including Channel Islands Sub-Post Offices and their Postmarks (1983), Red Cross Postal Message Scheme with the Channel Islands during the Occupation 1940 – 45 (1992), The Post Offices of the Smaller Channel Islands (1993), The Postal History of the Guernsey Sub-Post Offices (1995). The Postal History of the Jersey Sub-Post Offices (1995, and Letter Forwarding Agents of Great Britain handling Channel Islands letters 1673 – 1855 (2011).

Still thinking of coming to Guernsey to celebrate the Society’s 75th Anniversary? The deadline for booking your hotel room is fast approaching so please download the booking form attached and send to Sue Winnie at the address provided. Remember to book in with the hotel too. Hope to see you there.

Nineteen displays by members filled the 54 frames at the Royal Philatelic Society London (RPSL) on Thursday, 9 January 2025. Exhibits ranged from early Forwarding Agents, Ship Letter Mail, Sub-Post Offices, Smaller Channel Islands, the German Occupation, 3rd Anniversary of Channel Islands Liberation, Postal Independence and four frames of postcards, to name but a few. Comments received from members of the RPSL and CISS members attending the exhibition included “…amazed at the depth of material on display”, “An amazing display”, “Such a superb display” and, “…you have raised the profile of the CISS with the quality of material on display”. The exhibition booklet also came in for praise as to its content and quality; a copy of which each member of the CISS will receive in due course.

A buffet and drinks reception followed in the evening at which James Podger FRPSL gave the” “Vote of Thanks”, and the newly elected President of the RPSL, Simon Richards FRPSL, gave a special thank you to CISS President, David Laurillard for the society’s efforts in putting on such a wonderful display of material. He then presented each member who provided exhibits with a “Certificate of appreciation”.

All photographs by courtesy of the Royal Philatelic Society London

Please find the link below for the ABPS Winter edition

The meeting will commence at 11.00am with a 50-lot room auction followed by members’ displays of exhibits that will be shown at the CISS 75th Anniversary Event that will be held at the RPSL during January 2025. Please can I remind members who wish to bring material for display on the 30 November to bring only ONE display of 16 or 32 sheets.

The afternoon session, commencing at 14.00GMT, will comprise of two members showing one of their exhibits to members via Zoom. Gerald Marriner will be showing Jersey Postage Due Instructional Marks, and Alan Moorcroft will be showing The 1940 Evacuation of the Channel Islands. It is anticipated that each display will last approximately 20 – 30 minutes. Zoom login details are shown below.

Zoom meeting ID: 892 3949 0310 Passcode: CISS30! or the link below.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89239490310?pwd=h2QFra6Rwk1iDHwZCNU85atGAKirvG.1

Remember, if you do not have the Zoom app on you computer/tablet you will need to upload it onto your device to access the meeting.

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.