The 92nd Scottish Congress was held in the Dewars Centre, Perth on 14th & 15th April. This year Dundee & District Philatelic Society were the hosts.
As hosts DDPS provided a display which consisted of 62 frames (16 pages per frame) of philatelic material.
A wide range of topics were covered in the display. These included: - South Australia, D-Day, My Imperial Airways Africa, Germany: States to Germania 1849-1900, Union-Castle Line, Straits Settlements QV Postal Stationery, Canada Artifact & Parliament Series Definitive, Flowers on Ugandan Stamps, South Africa, Leipzig Trade Fair, QV Mail, USA - Contract Air Mail (CAM) - 1926-1934, The History of Oil, Chinese New Year, Commerce in the Post & Falkland Islands: Albatros Flights and the Joint Declaration Agreement of 1971.

The winner of the best display in the host section was "Germany: States to Germania 1849-1900" by Harry Jackson who received the "Robert Burns Quaich" during the Annual Dinner. (pictured on left receiving his award from Lynn Podger)

Congratulations also go to Norrie Kelso who won a Large Silver Gilt for his entry: - "The Electrical Revenue Stamps of Saskatchewan 1929-1949"

If you would like to see more information on the congress, including competition winners, then please visit the ASPS Congress Page

Bill Torrance provided a display on German Democratic Republic (DDR)

Bob Catto displayed a range of United States Stationary.

John Law showed a display titled "Before and After KUT"

Mike Humphries unfortunately could not join us but we were treated to his display "BLUE" which consisted of stamps from many nations the had the colour blue in common.

Pictured on the left are: - John Law, Bill Torrance, Bob Catto and DDPS President Harry Jackson.

Charles LLoyd stepped up to the plate and entertained us with a display titled 'Belgium's Africa territories - The Oil Palm Design'. As always Charles' display was entertaining and expertly delivered.
His display consisted of stamps and postal stationery from the Belgian Congo, Ruanda Urundi, Katanga! From 1894 to 1963 on the "Oil Palm Design".

Tonight our meeting was dedicated to discussing the forthcoming 92nd Scottish Congress 2023.
DDPS are the hosts of this years event.
Sandy Forbes, who has 50 years experience, gave members some advice on exhibiting in the host display.
6 members also displayed some frames that they have created for this years host display.

Tonight we had our annual Competition night. There was a good turnout with 13 entries in the 4 categories.

In the Postal History Category there were 3 entries: -

David Millar: - Queen Victoria Post
David Easson: - Uganda Postmarks
Charles lloyd: - Stellaland 1882-1885

There were joint winners in this category: - David Millar and David Easson. .

In the Thematic Category there were 3 entries: -

Norman Kelso: - Marine Life, Fossils & Lichens
David Easson: - Flowers on Ugandan Stamps
Brian McQueen: - Scouting Around the World

The winner in this category: - David Easson.

In the Social Philately Category there was one entry: -

Brian McQueen: - A Red Cross Story

The winner in this category: - Brian McQueen.

In the national & General Category there were 6 entries: -

Richard Griffiths: - Falkland Islands
Stephen Kennedy: - USA - Contract Airmail 1926-1934
Peter Dix: - Gough Island
Norman Kelso: - Canada - The Mammals & Architecture Definitives
Brian McQueen: - The Leipzig Trade Fair
Harry Jackson: - Saarland & the Little Reunification

The winner in this category: - Stephen Kennedy.

Charles started his display telling us about his main collecting interests, which are Rhodesia, Belgian Congo and Mozambique.
He then explained that his interest in the Imperial Airways Africa service was sparked by photographs he found in the 1950's of an impressive plane called the "Helena". When he asked about the photographs he discovered that had father brought them back when he was stationed in Matabeleland.
The display focused on the the development of the Imperial Airways Africa service from 1931 to 1938 and included covers from his main areas of interest as well as Europe. This was backed up with a range of photographs and very detailed maps of the route. In his vote of thanks David Easson remarked that is was one of the best displays we have ever had on Zoom, and all present voiced their agreement.

Tonight was a DDPS Members night with members displaying items that come under the catogory of the letter S.
The following members provided a wide range of material for our entertainment: -

Harry Jackson: - Indian States Saurashtra hand struck overprints
Charles Lloyd: - South Ksai and Saurashtra Waterlow proofs and dues
David Easson: - Slovak States 1938 - 94
David Millar: - Star Wars P. book stamps die cut SA and perf. gum.
Norrie Kelso: - Spain, Canada satellites on stamps and Silver Jubilee issues
Brian McQueen: - 24 x S subjects Shetland first air mail - S Australia
Ron Goodfellow: - Scottish post marks Sub post marks and County all beginning with S
Francis Podger: - Singapore mail and postal stationary used and unused.
Peter Dix: - Seychelles ships plus union Castle ships S W Africa Coco-De-Mer St.Helena.
Sandy Forbes: - Unprinted stamp sheet on poor quality paper. Colour trial sheet and order for stamp gum from Australia.
Richard Griffiths: - BAMSE (dog) and the SS Fleurus in S Georga, Norway and Dundee during WW2. The dog was navy mascot. Bamse died and was buried in Montrose. .

During the evening Richard Griffiths was presented the Rose Bowl by President Harry Jackson.
This trophy was awarded to Richard for his winning entry in the One-Sheet Competition in December.

The first part of this evening's meeting was the annual One-Sheet Competition.
There were 13 entries covering a wide range of subjects.
This years clear winner was Richard Griffiths with a sheet displaying two WW2 Airmail Covers that had been posted with Health and Pension Stamps attached.

The second part of the evening gave members an opportunity to display some of their recent Acquisitions, although it was hard to determine what the actual meaning of the word "recent" was.
Among the wealth of material displayed were, Zimbabwe currency showing the result of inflation with one of the notes having a face value of $50 billion, South Australia Stamps, Various Covers, French Equitorial Africa Stamps, Uganda Legal Issues since 2015, Advertising Licences, Canvey Island Local Post and a collection of material relating to the well known philatelic gentleman G.W Collett.
Also on display was the Cover, Insert and the approved cancellation created for the 92nd Scottish Congress 2023 to be held in Perth on 14th - 15th April 2023.

At the end of the evening members relaxed with the traditional tea and cake session.

Tonight's we had a zoom meeting and our guest was John Davies FRPSL of The Banbury Stamp Society who entertained us with a display entitled The 1890 Penny Post Jubilee.

John gave us an enthralling presentation of material relating to The 1890 Penny Post Jubilee.
Among the wide range of items displayed were Covers, Correspondence Cards, Invitations, the Jubilee Envelope and Commemorative Labels. Many items that John presented were related to the Edinburgh Jubilee Exhibition, The Guildhall Exhibition, The london Philatelic Exhibition and the South Kensington Conversazione which were all held that year.
All in all, it was a wonderful display and was thoroughly enjoyed by all our members.

Opening tonights meeting our President Harry Jackson paid tribute to Bill Early who sadly died on 29th October.
Bill had been a member of the Society for many years and will be sadly missed. Bill was well known for his passion for collecting Postcards and, along with Eric Eunson, had a book published entitled "Old Dundee". The book contained many of Bill's Postcards showing images of Dundee from the past.

Tonight's guest was Alan Blakeley of the Caledonian Philatelic Society who entertained us with displays entitled US National Parks & Newfoundland/Maritime Colonies.

Part One: - US National Parks.

The first part of Alan's display covered the US National Parks.
Along with Stamps and covers of all the National Parks and Monuments Alan's display also concentrated on the historical aspects of the planning and creation of the parks along with details of the people involved.
He started with The Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806). The expedition was to explore and to map the western half of the continent and study the area's plants, animal life, and geography. From then the display concentrated on the The National Parks Service and people who were instrumental in creating the parks including Presidents and influential people like John Muir.

Part Two: - Newfoundland/Maritime Colonies.

The second part of Alan's display covered Newfoundland/Maritime Colonies.
In the first section there were a selection of Newfoundland related Trans-atlantic and Round the World Flight Covers. Next Alan displayed an impressive collection of early Newfoundland stamps followed by a selection of Stamps and Covers from the Maritime Colonies including Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

Tonight we had a visit from Aberdeen Philatelic Society. Graham Searle treated us to a display of a range of items from Canada and Bruce Walker's display was entitled "A Trip to Aberdeen."

Part One: - Graham Searle.

Graham's display consisted of four sections, covering different topics, of Canadian items.
The first part of the display included a selection of colourful and varied advert covers covering the history of the Nova Scotia Provincial Exhibition. There was an interesting article about a tragedy which occured in the waters of Halifax, Nova Scotia when two ships collided. One was carrying explosives and caught fire causing an enormous explosion. 1,782 people were killed and an estimated 9,000 others injured.
The second part consisted of a beautiful selection of modern stamps. These were medium value definitives of Canadian Mammals.
Part three covered "The Large Queen's Issue". These stamps were first issued on 1st April 1868 following the creation of the Dominion of Canada in 1867.
In part four Graham displayed a series of "Cross Border Covers" from 1800 to 1850. This was mail sent across the border between Canada and the United States. Graham explained about the complexities of this during this period most of which was before the first stamps were issued.

Part Two: - Bruce Walker.

Bruce took us on a philatelic journey with a display entitled "A Trip to Aberdeen".
The first part of the journey was by ship. This was a display of Postcards of early ships that had a connection with Aberdeen, and sailed to destinations including London, Newcastle, Hull, Hamburg and Rotterdam. The next stage was a journey by train along the Deeside line to Balmoral. There was a selection of Postcards and Mail celebrating the Stations along this route. The old rail line is now a "Rail Trail" for Cycling and Walking.
The journey concludes with a visit to Balmoral. On display were some facinating items relating to Balmoral. These included Postcards, Letters, Covers with a close link to Balmoral from the Reign of Queen Victoria, Edward VII, George V, George VI and Elizabeth II.
Also included were a selection of colourful invitations to balls at Balmoral Castle.

There was another good turnout on Thursday evening and we were treated to a display by Tom Erkine on the topic of 'USA Stamps Pre-1940'.
Tom displayed a wide range of material from that era and overall, it was an outstanding display.

Some of the topics covered were: -
First stamps issued in 1847, Exposition Commemoratives, Airmail, Some fine examples of different cancels, information on different dies, die errors, printing errors, grills and misplaced perforations.

Some of the highlights were: -

Exposition Commemoratives: - Tom displayed a range of material related to the early Expositions which inluded Stamps, Covers, Tickets and Postcards. (The first USA Commemorative Stamps were issued for the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago).

Airmail: - There were many airmail related items on display including: - Zeppelin, Helicopter and Seaplane Covers. Crash Covers and a section dedicated to Charles Lindburg.

Early Pictorials: - In Tom's display was a nice set of Early Pictorial Stamps from 1869.

At the end of the evening our President, Harry Jackson (Left), made a presentation to Robert Duguid who is leaving the area.

Robert has been a member for over 40 years and will be missed by all.
In that time he has been Society President and laterly held the Office of Treasurer.

Although Robert is moving away he still remains a member and we look forward to seeing him on our Zoom meetings.

As is customary the President began the new session with a display, and this year's President Harry Jackson displayed a fascinating collection of material entitled "Germany from Third Reich to Federal Republic." Harry's presentation covered a turbulent period in the history of Germany from 1933 to the present day. The material Harry displayed encompassed, the rise of the Third Reich, World War II, Post War Occupation Zones, Division into Federal Republic of Germany and German Democratic Republic, plus from Unification to the present day.
There was a good turnout for the first meeting of the new session and all present found it enthralling and historically enlightening.

The President's Display: Part One:

In part one Harry covered the period from 1933 to 1949.

Subjects:
Third Reich 1933 to 1945.
Occupied Germany 1945 to 1949.

The President's Display: Part Two:

In part two Harry covered the period from 1945 to the present day.

Subjects:
Saarland 1945 to 1959.
West Berlin 1948 to 1991.
German Democratic Republic 1949 to 1990.
Federal Republic of Germany 1949 to Present Day.