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 2023-2024 Session
The full meeting programme for the 2023-2024 session, including a programme of online presentations, can be found here.
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.
The Stuart Rossiter Memorial Lecture
The Stuart Rossiter Memorial Lecture will be at 5pm on Wednesday 15 May 2024, at the Royal Philatelic Society London.
The speaker will be Simon Martin-Redman FRPSL. The title of his lecture is
"Postal History – Which is more interesting, the postal aspect or the history aspect?"
Under the revised FIP Postal History Guidelines (May 2022) a Postal History exhibit should "generally emphasise rates, routes, regulations, markings, usages, and other postal aspects, services, functions, and activities related to the history of the development of Postal Services".
Who wrote the letter, why the letter was written and the contents of the letter are of much more interest, probably, to the majority of collectors. It is suggested that the "romance" of the cover is more compelling than just the rates and routes, etc. This lecture will try, by showing examples, to justify this hypothesis.
Entry is by ticket; please book by emailing Rex Dixon at rexdixon@btinternet.com.
The event is free and light refreshments will be served afterwards.
The Society at Stampex 2023
The Society had a stand at Stampex 2023. You can watch a short video about this here.
President’s Newsletter
Spring is almost upon us, although I must remember I can only speak for those in the northern hemisphere. It was even still light when the 5pm presentation took place at the end of February. That said, we have had two further excellent presentations; the first at 1pm by members from the West Midland Region, very ably put together by Gerald Marriner and secondly at 5pm by Gordon Eubanks on the 1847 issue of the USA. This was superlative in every way and was accompanied by some subtle humour. Both could be repeated in future.
All is happy with both Gordon and myself ; this shows me in a much better light than the last meeting!
This month there is more to report on more than one front.
It is sad to report that earlier in February our Past President, Gavin Fryer RDP FRPSL passed away, he was 85 years young. His funeral will be held at St Swithins, Bridport, Dorset on Tuesday 12 March at 11.00 am. David Beech has written an obituary which will appear in the next London Philatelist. We held a minute's silence in Gavin's honour at our meeting on 22 February.
There is much to look forward to in March and April.
At 15 Abchurch Lane there are meetings on 7 March, a 1pm by Joseph Hackmey on Barbados and Grenada, followed on 21 March by The British Thematic Association Showcases The World of Pictorial Collecting, led by Barry Stagg.
On 5 March we have the next Zoom meeting, a 3pm presentation on Southern Norway by Terje Heskestad. You can register for it here.
Very importantly, we want to advertise the fact that in Easter week 28 -30 March, the ABPS have their National Competitive Exhibition, which for the first time is taking place at 15 Abchurch Lane. We expect all floors will be full of frames, totalling 165. Three dealers will be in attendance and admission is free. Hours are 10am-5pm on Thursday and Friday and 10am-3pm on Saturday. We hope as many as possible will attend.
Locally there is a joint meeting with the Society of Postal Historians in Bowdon on 10 March, primarily, but not exclusively, for North West members.
At the end of April the two Vice Presidents and myself are all bound for San Francisco where the RPSL is a guest Society at Westpex. Simon Richards is also there as a judge of their exhibition.
Lastly, one for the diary, The President's dinner will take place at the Stationers Hall in the City of London on Wednesday 23 October 2024. I have no further details at this point, so please just note the date, further information will be provided later. This is both Stampex week and the time of the Royal Challenge when teams from four other Royal Societies will compete. The competitive displays will be at 15 Abchurch Lane.
Best wishes to you all
Mike.
Mike J Y Roberts FRPSL
President
The Royal Philatelic Society London
29th February 2024
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 about 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.