Chairman's Message - December 2021 - Trevor Cornford FRGS

Collecting life has sped up in the last 3 months since I wrote and I hope much of this is percolating down to all of you - local clubs restarting with guest speakers finally agreeing presentations, STAMPEX as major event, large regional postcard fair as well as exciting Auction material. I still find a few good Polar postcards at Fairs and especially used with comments about the exploits of Scott and Shackleton. These filtered down into subjects or geography through the amazing network of dealers we have who do work extremely hard lugging their boxes and albums around to these events all over the UK. Do support them as trust me we will miss them when they are gone! See the Scott card / message and famous scarce Scottish NAE piper and penguin! Recent classic Postal material from both Polar regions saw continued strong prices as there has been a dearth of such lately. Finally finally the 50th Anniversary of our sister Society the Falkland Islands Philatelic Study Group was celebrated in September with a special three-day get together. Including a fabulous day out and lunch at the SS GREAT BRITAIN Exhibition centre at her restored resting place in Bristol docks.

My overwhelming impression is of how brave the passengers were to travel- and how short judging by the size of the bunks they were expected to live in for weeks voyaging to Australia and America! An especial big thanks go to Peter Cranwell for a large donation of unused GB postage stamps to use on Polar Post despatched from England by Paul Jones and Simon Lealman. And the big message this issue is a massive thank you not just from me but the whole PPHSGB family for John’s incredible 25 years at the helm of Polar Post - and especially for the way he continually fits my ramblings and last minute articles and scans into a sensible and logical format! (p.s. I became a Great Uncle recently so life has become even busier and very worthwhile for the smiles I get!) Don’t forget to send articles or short notes space fillers to John.

CONGRATULATIONS TO JOHN YOULE ON 25 GREAT YEARS AS EDITOR OF POLAR POST!
We the Committee members wish to put on record our grateful thanks for his stalwart dedication to our Society on behalf of the membership.

The Polar Post has grown and evolved over his stewardship from plain print to colour covers and now full colour content. He was also involved in the nascent Website efforts. With negotiation for competitive cost, print and paper quality, postage costs and modern layout. With information gathering on voyages, members’ questions, stamp issues and tasteful In Memoriam for members
passing. All additional work not always realised. His overall knowledge and dedication should not be underestimated and is very much appreciated – Please carry on John as long as you can and ensure the standards are maintained.

A symbolic 3 cheers!