DDPS

DDPS Annual Dinner

9th May 2024

Tonight we held our DDPS Annual Dinner at the Invercarse Hotel in Dundee. There was a good turnout and a good night was had by all.

DDPS AGM

25th April 2024

Tonight we held our AGM. Officers presented their reports and the President & Secretary both commented on what a successful session it had been. We were treated to a wide-ranging selection of material, at in-person meetings, and on-line Zoom meetings. Zoom meetings were introduced during the Covid Pandemic. They proved to be very successful, and we are keeping them in our syllabus. This is because we can attract speakers from far and wide that we would not otherwise be able to have at in-person meetings.
There was also one change to the Office Bearers. Charles Lloyd stepped down as Secretary after 12 years. We would like to thank Charles for his hard work, commitment and professionalism during his tenure.
We are very fortunate to have Lynn Podger stepping into the position of Secretary and wish her well in her new appointment.

93rd Scottish Congress

12th & 13th April 2024

The 93rd Scottish Congress was held at the Dewars Centre in Perth where the hosts were Aberdeen Philatelic Society. It was a successful Congress for two DDPS members who won trophies in the ASPS National Exhibition.

John Sawkins won the Cowell Salver for best first time entrant with his thematic display entitled 'Building Bridges'.

Norrie Kelso won the Bridge of Allan Trophy in the 'General Class Post 1900' section with his display entitled 'The Law & Electrical Revenue Stamps of Saskatchewan 1907-1968'.

Norrie Kelso won the Carson Trophy in the 'Traditional GB' section with his display entitled 'Usage of the Tuppeny Blues'.

Visit from Lanarkshire PS

14th March 2024

Tonight we had a visit from Andy Napier, Graham U'ren and Alan Rishworth of Lanarkshire PS.
Andy Napier put up an interesting display on 'Jamaica' on behalf of Terry Wood who was unable to attend. His own display featured Fiji Flight Covers giving an insight to early difficulties on some routes. Graham U'ren gave an informative display on the stamps of New Caledonia ending with a model of a Kagu - the national bird of the country. Alan Rushworth's display was postcards of Clyde Steamers evoking days of 'Doon the Water'

Andy Napier, Graham U'ren and Alan Rishworth from Lanarkshire PS

Members viewing the items on display

Ron Goodfellow with one of our younger members who is showing a very keen interest in the displays

Adrian Pearson (RPSL & GBPS) - 'Crimean War Postal History' Part 2

22nd February 2024

Tonight we had a zoom meeting and Adrian Pearson provided us with part 2 to his October display on Crimean War Postal History. As with the first presentation Adrian displayed a range of facinating, and rare items, and with his presenting style, it turned out to be a very enjoyable evening. Some of the topics Adrian covered were, Postal Routes, Postal Rates, Unpaid Mail from Forces in the East, Paid Mail with Postage Stamps, Forwarded Mail, Other Theatres of War, Mail from our Allies and Enemies and a Peace envelope which happened to be Designed and Engraved by J. Valentine of Dundee.

DDPS Night - Competition Night.

8th February 2024

Tonight we had our annual competition night. There were four competitions and for the first time in the Society's history one person won 3 of the 4 competitions. Congratulations go out to Brian McQueen for his achievement.

There was a good turnout as always and the entries were varied and of a high standard.

Thematics

In the Thematics section the winner was John Sawkings with his entry "Building Bridges"

National & General

In the National & General section the winner was Brian McQueen with his entry " Canadian National Exhibition 1928 Golden Jubilee Flights"

Postal History

In the Postal History section the winner was Brian McQueen with his entry "Italian East Africa Military Post 1935 to 1937"

Social Philately

In the Social Philately section the winner was Brian McQueen with his entry "A Social History of Youth Organisations"

At the end of the evening Charles Lloyd was presented with the Rose Bowl for his 'Ellis Allen Letter Card - Bulawayo' entry in the One-Sheet Competition on the 14th December.
The trophy was not available to present on the evening .

Peter Webb (Torbay & Teignbridge PS) - 'French India'

25th January 2024

Tonight we had a zoom meeting and Peter Webb provided us with an excellent presentation of materials on the subject of "French India" Peter's presentation included a wide range of items relating to the French and Imperial Post Offices. Some of the items on display were, pre stamp ship letters, letters using French stamps, Mail on packet ships, French and Imperial Air Mail, Colony postmarks and the odd forgery. As well as the facinating items on display, as is often the case, we were treated to a informative history lesson.

DDPS Night -the 1920's

11th January 2024

Tonight we had a members participation night on the theme of the 1920's.
9 members took part displaying a wide range of differnent material. Among some of the items displayed were: - A set of German postcards showed the effect of hyper inflation in the 1920's, a range of stamps and covers issued by many countries during the 1920's, a selection of items from the British Indian States, East Africa and Airmail covers. It was a very interesting evening with such an array of diverse items on display.
It was also a pleasure to welcome two new members in to the fold.

DDPS Night - 1 Sheet Competition / Recent Acquisitions / Christmas Food.

14th December 2023

The first part of this evening's meeting was the annual One-Sheet Competition.
There were 12 entries covering a wide range of subjects.
This years clear winner was Charles Lloyd with a sheet entitled 'Ellis Allen Letter Card - Bulawayo'.

The second part of the evening gave members an opportunity to display some of their recent Acquisitions, although as usual it was hard to determine what the actual meaning of the word "recent" was.
A wide range of material was on display which included: - Stamps & Covers from Saskatchewan Post Offices, various items of Postal Stationery, wildlife stamps, items from the Belgian Congo & Uganda and several items of local interest, to name but a few.

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

James Podger (RPSL) - 'West Indies Postal History A-V'

23rd November 2023

Tonight we had a zoom meeting and James Podger provided us with an enthralling presentation with a selection of letters from Antigua to the Virgin Islands (A-V). His display included many fine examples of pre-stamp letters, but also included several examples of stamped letters, ranging in dates from the 1760's to early 1900's. There were some very fine examples of inter island letters and many Packet Letters sent to the UK from various locations in the West Indies on display.

Stephen Kennedy (DDPS) - 'Postal History of the United States of America'

9th November 2023

Tonight we had a zoom meeting and Stephen Kennedy gave a presentation on 'Postal History of the United States of America'. The presentation covered the Postal Service from 1639, when America's First Post Office was opened, to the present day.
Some of the topic covered were: - The Boston Post Roads, The Franklin Years, Local Post, First National Postal Stamps, New York to California Steam Ship Route, The Pony Express, Confederate States of America Postal Service, Railway Post Offices, Autogiro / Helicopter Mail, AirMail and Postal Stationary.
Also included were details of all the major definitive Stamp Issues.

Michael Turnbull (Falkirk PS) - 'Aviation' (An aerophilately thematic)

26th October 2023

Mike and his wife Marie braved the elements to give his display to members.
The first part of his display was given over to the Zepplin airship and the history of Count Zepplin. The first attempt, the LZI proved to be underpowered, but successive Zepplins proved to be more successful. Mike showed postcards, covers and stamps depicting the history of the Zepplin that included the first airmail flight cover. After WWI Zepplins were built for the allies and in 1931 there was a flight to the Arctic.

The second part showed the first UK Aerial Post to celebrate the 1911 Coronation of KGV. The covers were printed in different colours with the purple being reserved for "privileged mail". However, the cards and covers proved to be very popular costing 61/2d and 1s1d respectively when the average wage was £1 per week. There were covers and stamps depicting female aviators and later aircraft. These included both allied and axis aircraft. The display ended with examples of the Red Arrows, Battle of Britain anniversaries and information on the Swordfish aircraft that were pivotal in the sinking of the Bismark.

Adrian Pearson (RPSL & GBPS) - 'Crimean War Postal History' Part 1

12th October 2023

Tonight we had a zoom meeting and our guest Adrian Pearson gave us an excellent display with the title 'Crimean War Postal History' Part 1

As well as displaying a wide range of material it also provided us with a very interesting history lesson.

Adrian begam by giving us a bit of background to the war followed by a detailed description of the postal arrangements set up to convey the mail to and from the Crimea.
His display included detailed maps showing postal routes, as well as the location of Post Offices created for handling the mail. In addition to details of postage rates and postmarks there was also a wide range of stampless and stamped covers within the presentation.

We are all looking forward to part 2 of the presentation, which will also be a zoom meeting, on the 22nd February 2024.

President's Night: 'Revenue Stamps of the Canadian Provinces'

28th September 2023

Before tonights main meeting a SGM was held to discuss proposed changes to the Constitution & Rules. proposed revisions were accepted unanimously and a copy is available in the members area.

As is customary the President began the new session with a display, and this year's President Norrie Kelso displayed a excellent collection of material consisting of "Revenue Stamps of the Canadian Provinces".

In part one Norrie displayed an impressive collection of Saskatchewan Law stamps and Documents. Included in these were Court Documents, Sales Documents and Financing Agreements. To finish off part one Norrie also included Revenue Stamps of Alberta and the Yukon Territory.

In part two Norrie displayed Revenue Stamps of Quebec and Saskatchewan Electrical Revenue Stamps. This consisted of a selection of Revenue Stamps, Legal Documents, Sales Documents and a selection of Electrical Documents.
Norrie's display consisted of some very rare items and was an excellent start to a new season.