Channel Islands Specialists’ Society

Founded 1950

Volume 44 No.1

44-1

CISS Annual Competition 2025

Thank you and congratulations to all the entrants in our competition.  As always, there was a wide range of topics of a very high standard.

NameExhibit TitleClassAwardScore
Nick Stuart3rd Anniversary of the Liberation StampsStampsGold88
Richard FlemmingJersey Ship Letter MailPostal HistoryGold85
Richard FlemmingGerman Occupation of Alderney 1940-45Occupation Postal History and MarkingsLarge Vermeil83
Julian BagwellGuernsey pre-Adhesive stamp Postal History.Postal HistoryLarge Vermeil80
Nick StuartGuernsey Postage Due and Instructional MarksPostal HistoryLarge Vermeil80
David WinnieGuernsey Sales Tax Stamps 1940-47StampsLarge Vermeil80
NameExhibit TitleClassAwardScore
David WinnieThe 19th Century undated Double Arc handstampsPostal HistoryVermeil79
Steve PowerPostal Rates during the Duplex of Jersey PeriodPostal HistoryVermeil78
Bryan EllistonGuernsey Ship LettersPostal HistoryVermeil77
John GooseThe 1948 Liberation Issue on FDC from GuernseyPostal HistoryLarge Silver72
John TriggsGuernsey Occupation PeriodOccupation Postal History and MarkingsLarge Silver71
Jill FlemmingChurches of GuernseyPostcardsSilver64

An enjoyable meeting was appreciated by all, crowned by a very useful feedback session from Graham Winters, FRPSL, one of the judges present. Although society competitions are not necessarily written up to national exhibiting standards, everyone present gained useful information as to how to improve their exhibits, particularly if entered at a higher level. As ever, we are very grateful to the two judges, Graham Winters, FRPSL, and Dr Pat Reid, FRPSL, for marking the displays and for their very useful feedback.

Member Profiles Project

The Society celebrates its 75th Anniversary in 2025. As part of the celebrations of this milestone, the CISS Executive Committee has published to all current Members in March 2025 a brochure to explain the benefits available through the activities of the Society. This brochure also commemorates seventy-five of the Society’s longest-serving current Members, through the inclusion of Member Profiles, which take the form of a standard template of questions, the end-product of which has the feel of a mini-interview about their collecting interests and the benefits they feel they get from their membership of the CISS.

Individual Member Profiles have been included in each edition of Les Iles Normandes since March 2023, an exercise which culminates this quarter in the publication of the Profiles brochure. This edition of Les Iles Normandes includes the Member Profile of Roger Harris to end the series of quarterly Profiles.

The CISS clearly has a great many long-serving Members, which is testament to a dedication to their interest in and collecting of Channel Islands philately. It is hoped that, by reading the Profiles brochure, Members will gain an appreciation of the enjoyment and benefit which their fellow Members obtain from the Society and the services which it provides. 

CISS Member Profile – Roger E Harris

A person with white hair and a beard Description automatically generatedWhen and why did you start collecting C.I. stamps/postal history?

In 1967 I met my first wife and her parents who had taken early retirement to live in Guernsey.  My mother-in-law organised charity collections of Channel Islands stamps that she sold to dealers, and when I saw some of the interesting items, I seized the opportunity to cherry pick her collections, paying her far more than she would get from the dealers.  Through her came the first recorded Internee camp letters.

When did you join the CISS? What/Who introduced you to the CISS?

I joined the CISS in 1969, inspired by Bill Newport’s writings in The Philatelic Magazine but I promptly went to work on Ascension Island, and in the Bahamas where I eagerly awaited the arrival of the Society bulletins, and was blown away by Bill Newport’s “Stamps and Postal History of the Channel Islands” in 1972.

What benefit have you got from your membership of the CISS?

The greatest benefit has been meeting like-minded collectors who became lasting friends.  Working abroad, I was able to visit our American members. Their research was far advanced as they had access to American war-time records giving details of C. I. Feldpost Unit numbers; we never knew they existed.

Simultaneously, I became popular with members as I had contact with ‘Herr Karl Hennig’ in the Dominican Republic who sold C.I. Occupation Feldpost mail; it was only many years later that we understood their spurious origins!

In 1973 I returned home and got fully involved with the society, working on the Committee, organising our first weekend-away in Bournemouth and cherishing hours researching with Don Mc Kenzie on his Red Cross Mail Service book as well as writing for Stanley Gibbons “Channel Islands Stamps and Postal History”. In 1980 I made a career change from 6th Form Deputy Head to Production Designer for BBC TV, but this curtailed my attendance at Society meetings, although I still continued collecting and researching.

Obituary

David and Moira joined the CISS in 1995. They attended most day meetings in London and the yearly weekend meetings. A quiet couple, their main interest was Channel Island postcards, and they formed a superb collection including almost complete runs of the Allix and LL cards along with many others. They travelled the country visiting stamp and postcard fairs and they would ensure they attended as soon as the doors opened to search for new finds.

David was born in the United Kingdom where his parents had been evacuated to from Guernsey in 1940. Following the liberation, the family returned to Guernsey where David was educated. David met Moira whilst at Cardiff University where they both studied teaching and, following their graduation, David became a teacher, and they took up a two-year posting to Kiribati. On their return to England, they settled in Sandon, Essex and David took up positions in various schools teaching science.  David was a keen bird watcher and allotment holder. Moira was instrumental in setting up a children’s playgroup in the village. She loved reading and crafting.

They entered the Society’s annual Postcard Competition and between them won 13 of the 16 competitions held between 2002 and 2017.

In September 2002 they took over running the circulating packet service which they efficiently ran until 2007 when Moira then took on the Membership Secretary’s role which she held until 2017. In 2009 David was persuaded to take on the role of Chairman of the Society which he very successfully managed until 2017.

Moira passed away on the 23rd of November 2024 and David six days later on the 29th November 2024. Their funeral took place on the 15th January 2025 at Chelmsford Crematorium. It was well attended including six members of the CISS.

Members will remember them for their friendly and helpful manner. I will miss them as very good friends.

We send our condolences to their son Irwin.

Alan Moorcroft FRPSL

Forthcoming Meetings 2025

11-13 April 2025              Society Weekend at the Peninsula Hotel Guernsey

7-11 May 2025                  Europhilex, NEC, Birmingham

11 May 2025  1.00pm-3.00pm Society Meeting Europhilex

17 May 2025              The 2025 Solent Regional Meeting at Chandlers Ford, Hampshire. Convener: Alan Whittaker

5 July 2025 10.00am  MIDPEX, Warwickshire Exhibition Centre, near Leamington Spa (Society Stand)

12 July 2025               75th Annual General Meeting; Room Auction and Members’ displays

13 September 2025   Members’ Meeting – Postcards

29 November 2025   Members’ Meeting – Theme: Letters A, B, and/or C

Unless stated otherwise, all meetings are held at the Royal Philatelic Society London, 15 Abchurch Lane, London EC4N 7BW with meetings commencing at 11.00am. Tea and coffee is available from 10.30am in the Members’ Lounge

Please see the Society’s website at www.ciss.uk for dates of news and other events.

David Gurney FRPSL New Honorary Life Member

At our recent meeting at the RPSL on 8 February, I had a very pleasant duty to perform. Some considerable time ago, we created the position of Honorary Life Member in recognition of the contribution that Michael Wienke had made in promoting Channel Islands philately and, to this day, Michael has remained our only member with this honour. Wanting to make this honour very special and, as part of the Executive, I and my fellow committee members put together a list of criteria which we felt would be necessary to achieve such a status. Quite frankly, we thought it would be almost impossible for anyone else to meet these requirements, that is until now. David Gurney FRPSL ticked every one of our boxes and it was with great pleasure that we announced at our meeting that David would be our second Honorary Life Member, and it was my pleasure to present David with a certificate in recognition of this award.

Whilst it is almost impossible to list all of David’s achievements in the space allowed in this Journal, David has been a member of our Society since November 1970 and has supported the Society as a Committee Member since 1974 when he became Packet Superintendent (interesting title!) remaining in this position until 1995 when he became Auction Secretary. Perhaps he is best known for his time as Editor of our excellent Journal, a position he took up in 1999 and held until December 2023. Of course, David was also our third President following in the footsteps of Bill Newport and John Simpson.

David provided numerous articles for our Journals on a significant number of topics and carried out extensive research which has enabled him to write and publish at least six key books on Channel Islands postal history, especially, but not exclusively, covering his interest in the history of the Sub-Post Offices of the Channel Islands. These include:

The Channel Islands Sub-Post Offices and their Postmarks (1983)

Red Cross Postal Message Scheme with the Channel Islands during the Occupation 1940-45 (1990)

The Post Offices in the Smaller Channel Islands (1993

The Postal History of Guernsey Sub-Post Offices (1995)

The Postal History of the Jersey Sub-Post Offices (2001)

Letter Forwarding Agents of Great Britain handling Channel Island Letters 1673-1855 (2011)

David has also furthered Channel Island philately with his longstanding membership of both the RPSL, where he held the post of Honorary Secretary, and of the Society of Postal Historians. As he enters his ninetieth year in April, I am sure like me, you will all be extremely appreciative of David’s commitment and contribution to the Society and understand that it is time for him to enjoy concentrating on his philately, also giving him time, deservedly so, to “put his feet up”.

Tony Peters Channel Islands Collection for Sale

In accordance with our generally held belief that our collections should be dispersed in a manner to preserve them safely for the future and that they end up in the correct hands, we are pleased to advise that Heinrich Koehler, Germany’s leading auction house, will be auctioning Karl-Anton (Tony) Peters Channel Islands collections on Monday 24 March (single lots) and Wednesday 26 (balance of collections). In the course of the following weeks more and more photographs of the collections will be accessible on Heinrich Koehler’s website.

Tony is known to many of us both personally and particularly thanks to the fact that he used to be a very active researcher and publisher of articles. Today Tony lives in a retirement and care home. The link to the lots of the collections are here: 385_ChannelIslands.pdf The items will be offered in a special section of the main catalogue. The catalogue is viewable online at www.heinrich-koehler.de, and the worldwide sale of stamps and postal history will be held from 24 March to 29 March 2025.

Editorial

We are now well into our Anniversary Year following our successful exhibition of 54 frames of Channel Islands stamps and postal history at the Royal Philatelic Society London in January. It was good to see so many CISS members there.

Next on the agenda is our weekend meeting in Guernsey from 11-13 April. It is not far away, so please book now if you would like to attend and if you haven’t already done so. Please see the leaflet on the News page of our website (30 January item).

This journal will be sent out along with two of our anniversary publications; the 48-page handout for our meeting at the RPSL and a “Profiles” booklet containing background information to our 75 longest serving members (see page 11). We hope that these will prove to be enjoyable souvenirs of our Anniversary.

Secretary’s Clipboard

Where is time going? So much has gone on since the December 2024 edition of Les Iles Normandes. To start with, there was the CISS’ 75th Anniversary Exhibition that was held at the Royal Philatelic Society London (RPSL) on Thursday 9 January. Can I personally express my sincerest thanks to all twenty members who provided 54 frames-worth of high-class material.  Feedback received from CISS and RPSL members was very positive, with many comments about the range, depth and quality of material on display.

Moving on a month, we had the 2025 Competition Day, again held at the RPSL on 8 February. On a personal note, can I express my congratulations to David Gurney FRPSL, who was awarded Honorary Life Membership of the CISS in recognition of his long-standing contributions to the Society. Please see the photograph that appears on the previous page and on the News page of the Society’s website.

As to the actual Competition Day, a special thanks needs to go to Julian Bagwell, Competition Secretary, for the smooth running of the competition. Further information about the entries and awards received will appear within the pages of this journal and are also available on the ‘Competitions’ page of the Society’s website. A big thank you also goes to Graham Winters, FRPSL, and Patrick Reid, FRPSL, who judged this year’s entries.

Soon we will be going to Guernsey for the Members’ Weekend Meeting. Still thinking of going? Full details and booking form can be found on the News page of the Society’s website.