Regular Meetings at 15 Abchurch Lane
Meetings are held at our London premises usually twice per month from September to June.
The Meeting Programme for the 2024-2025 Session
The full meeting programme for the 2024-2025 session, including a programme of online presentations, can be found here.
Annual General Meeting 26 June 2025
Members of the Society who log in to the website can read the notice of Annual General Meeting on 26 June 2025, the report and statement of accounts for the year to 31 December 2024, and reports from the Officers and Committees via this link: 2025 AGM Papers.
The King William Street Pedestrian Priority Project
Impact on Access to Abchurch Lane
A major project will be undertaken during the summer and autumn of 2024 and the first quarter and second half of 2025 covering King William Street, Lombard Street, Cannon Street and many of the lanes that connect them including Abchurch Lane.
This will mean that there will be road closures due to roadworks. Access during these times will be for pedestrians only, with very limited access to vehicles. Click here for details.
President's Newsletter
A Celebration of Literature
With the Fourth Crawford Festival coming shortly, what better way to warm up than by coming along this Thursday 19 June, the final meeting of Mike Roberts’ Presidential programme, when Tomas Bjäringer, Jonas Hällström and Mårten Sundberg will give a presentation on the Society’s Meeting Day Handouts. In this they have been ably assisted by our Head of Collections Nicola Davies and there will be a talk at 16.00 on how our meetings have evolved over the years. Indeed, having the talk at 16.00 will be a first in itself and an experiment we plan to repeat in the new season’s programme.
Crawford Festival and AGM
The final week of June sees the 4th Crawford Festival of Philatelic Literature on 24 and 25 June. The Crawford Festival this year will focus on the role of archives in philatelic research and should prove very useful. On the Wednesday of the Festival there is a dinner for delegates at Harry’s Bar. Tickets can be purchased from the online Shop here. The afternoon of the Wednesday will see the award of the winner of this year's Crawford Medal awarded to the best philatelic book published in the last two years.
The Annual Report with Notice of Meeting was sent out last month. On the day (Thursday 26 June) there will be a display from the recently acquired Scottish Forgeries collection put together by Damian Devoy, the curator of our philatelic collections. My thanks to him and all who help out.
The AGM will see three members of Council stepping down - Jon Aitchison, Jonas Hällström and Kim Stuckey. Each has made a major contribution to the Society whilst on Council and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their hard work, both for their support during this unexpected six months of my Presidency and also on behalf of the whole Society.
We will be electing new members of Council at the AGM and the following week the new Council will meet for an induction session and to appoint the Committees for 2025/26.
Devonshire Bowl
The last event of the season is the Annual One-frame Competition to win the Society’s Devonshire Bowl. This is awarded on the basis of a popular vote of those attending. It has nothing to do with the normal competitive exhibiting rules. So, for those of you who find the international rules too constraining, a chance to ‘do it your way’. A link to the entry form can be found here on the website.
President’s Dinner
Ticket sales for the President’s Dinner are going steadily, but there is still time to book. The dinner will take place on Wednesday 22nd October 2025 at Stationer’s Hall by St Paul’s Cathedral. This is the opening day of Stampex, which will take place at the Business Design Centre, and the day before a 1 pm display by Ian Greig who has kindly agreed to step in following the US Classics Society withdrawal due to ongoing customs uncertainties. Tickets are available from the RPSL website (here) and from the Administration Office, priced at £160 each.
International Meetings
The London Philatelist and the website have full details of these (here) and our regional meetings (here). I attended the West Midlands regional meeting last month and then met some of our French members in Colmar last week. A very spacious event, some fine exhibits and a good spread of dealers in a charming town. The food on offer was excellent; my only issue was a lack of seating at the dealer stands, which rather cut my browsing time.
In August I will be at the Great American Stamp Show, both as your President at the RPSL events scheduled there, and also as a member of the Jury. Schaumberg is close to Chicago and there will be some wonderful exhibits and one of the largest gatherings of dealers this year. I hope to meet many of you there.
2025/26 Programme
The new season starts a little earlier than usual on 4 September, but it will start in the traditional way when we will have a fine offering from His Majesty the King’s collection. The material will be from the Leeward Islands, Dominica and the Cayman Islands, which I am very much looking forward to seeing.
Our German members will be displaying on 18 September, which should be another popular meeting.
Autumn events at Abchurch Lane
One of our hopes for Abchurch Lane is that it will become a home for other philatelic, and indeed other collectible, events and not just events put on by ourselves.
The final week of September promises to be busy with such events. We are delighted to be hosting the Stuart Rossiter Trust Seminar on the theme of “What is Postal History”. Attendance is free but you are advised to register (srtcorr@gmail.com) to assist the planning.
The Seminar is on 24 September and on the following two days there will be the autumn ABPS competitions. The date has been chosen to meet the entry deadlines for the Boston 2026 show, which closes on 30 September, so it really is a last chance to qualify for that major exhibition which could well be the biggest of the decade. Entries should be made on the ABPS website, which is open until 31 July.
Hopefully these tastes of the coming season will have enthused you and given you something to look forward to as we enjoy the summer, at least for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere.
With best wishes,
Simon.
Simon Richards FRPSL
President
The Royal Philatelic Society London
17 June 2025
Collections Events
From time to time informal talks and seminars take place, showing the diversity of philately and how it can provide unexpected insights into social, cultural and local history. Click here for information about these events.
Meeting Videos
5pm meetings that have been videoed may be viewed on YouTube, accessible through links on the All Meetings with Documents page.
The full list of meetings can be viewed here.
Meeting Handouts
Our archives hold over 700 handouts provided by displayers at meetings since 1918. These range from single sheets of paper listing the items on display to extensive publications including complex images that can be regarded as significant contributions to the literature. Explanatory notes were at first provided only occasionally but have become normal practice since the 1980s. Many contain material of value to researchers and their production quality has steadily improved. These have been scanned and converted to searchable PDF documents. Click here for a list of the handouts available to view online.
Standing Displays and Regional Meetings
Information about the standing displays and regional meetings, in the United Kingdom and around the world, can be viewed by clicking the menu to the left.