Chairman's Message - March 2021 - Trevor Cornford FRGS

I write this as a soft dusting of snow is gently falling over our town – but elsewhere I know enough has arrived for sledging down hillsides and blocking roads! Ours is gone by the morning.

At least it’s enough to put one in the collecting mood with a ‘real Polar’ type scene. Normally when I begin to write these notes I can check my diary for events, auctions, meetings, emails since the last Polar Post edition - but sign of our times there is very little. A few items in on line auction or eBay tries to keep me engaged. So I will start 2021 off with a Preview – Shackleton’s last voyage on the Quest started 100 years ago this year - this last fling to explore his life long love of the Antarctic. I will start a short résumé in future Polar Posts to fill in more details but an interesting Postcard MW OA-1-a, a line drawn The “QUEST” helps to set the scene, Figure 1.


If anyone would like an item included please let me know and I will try to incorporate it into the story - if so, subject to space I will ask you to scan direct to John Youle with or without your
name being acknowledged as owner, up to you if anonymity preferred. Especially any pre-departure items of Quest – not much about generally of this voyage in my experience. (The stamps ‘overprinted’ post his death excepted). I do have some interesting ephemera, signatures and photographs to include already.



On other matters, I enjoyed the sight of my regular annual Christmas correspondent Bent Sørensen’s items sent to the Editor - one of our oldest and active members proving you don’t
have to be “webbed up” to contribute! I hope he continues to extract good items from his ‘Fred Goldberg’ mine!

Finally, I found very interesting the ‘snippets’ by Phil Schreiber last issue. More members should share such news - it doesn’t always have to be a long article to interest members. I wish you all the best for this year and hope for chances of face-to-face meetings - even if at 2 metres!


Take care and stay safe – and send John Youle any good Polar philatelic stories.