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This newsletter follows the September 2026 NZPF meeting.
As I believe I have said in a previous newsletter, our hobby enjoys a symbiotic relationship with both the dealer community and NZPost. We all need each other to flourish. So, it was great to be able welcome Antony Harris of NZPost to our recent meeting. He gave a short presentation on recent and upcoming stamp issues, what NZPost hubs will look like – with photos of the recently opening Hub in Palmerston North – and trends in new issue sales. We also discussed with him ongoing sponsorship for Federation and how that will help upcoming National exhibitions in New Zealand. We were also able to pass on a complaint from Southland PS about the rise in postage rates. This goes to illustrate the relationship that Federation have with NZPost and how we can pass on society concerns to Post.

Significant Birthdays

It has been one of my duties (a pleasurable one), to send birthday wishes to a couple of societies. I note here Taranaki PS who celebrated 90 years with a cake on the day I realised what was about to happen on 26th August, and North Shore PS who celebrate their 50th on 23rd September with a luncheon on 26th September where I plan to be present.
Other societies with longevity on their side are
Auckland 1922
Hastings 1955
Wellington 1922
Dunedin 1913
South Auckland 1964
Hawkes Bay 1939
RPSNZ 1888
Marlborough 1973
Tauranga 1963
Horowhenua 1962
Airmail Soc 1930
Nelson 1954
Thames 1959
Hutt Valley 1938
PHSNZ 1964
Southland 1931
Waikato 1939
Manawatu 1922
NZSGB 1952
Stamp Collectors Club 1944
Whakatane 1946
Upper Hutt 1963
Christchurch 1911
Timaru 1928
Whangarei 1957
Wanganui 1921
By way of a contrast, Taupo Stamp Club has just been accepted as a member of Federation. They are also members of the Northern Association. Their email address is taupostampclub@gmail.com

Queensland Stamp […]

This newsletter follows the June 2026 NZPF meeting.

Foreword

Why so soon after the last newsletter, I hear you asking. There are some events that need the widest possible publicity, a National Exhibition next year that we now have dates for and a few other matters I need to pass on.

National Exhibition for 2027 – Palmpex 2027

I am very pleased to report that the organising committee for Palmpex 2027 has announced that the exhibition will be held in Palmerston North on 1-3rd October 2027. Keep the dates free now!

International Exhibitions

At its last meeting, Federation decided to support (by sending commissioners) to five exhibitions in 2027 and six in 2028. This is in direct response to generous funding provided by the Zeapex Philatelic Trust. This is not counting the national exhibitions held in Australia. Some of these exhibitions may not proceed but a current list of exhibitions can be found on Federation website https://nzpf.org.nz/exhibitions/ . Now it is up to New Zealand’s exhibitors to support the commissioner by entering the exhibitions.

Regional Delegates’ reports

One way the Federation executive keeps in touch with what is going on in societies is to receive reports from the regional delegates. A good example of this was the report we received at our last meeting from Colin Dyer and an appeal for assistance from Horowhenua PS. They want to undertake frame restoration work and so Federation has been able to offer advice, material sourcing and specification, frame loan whilst the work is carried out and potentially funding assistance through the NZNPT. So please let your delegate know of any assistance you may want and we’ll see if we can help.

Philatelic dates for 2026 and […]

This newsletter follows the March 2026 NZPF meeting.

Societies Matter

I thought I should head this “Society Matters” but have done an intended swap around.

Leading up to the March Federation meeting I was looking at the Incorporated Societies website seeing which societies have redone their constitutions, which have de-registered and who were outstanding. Suffice it to say, there were societies in every category, so I hope you’ve got it all sorted out. There will, I’m sure, be those of you now redoing banking signatories and the like – it’s all rather a painful business. I believe that it was government’s intention that all societies now have better financial oversight and other processes in place.

Some of the delegates at our meeting were concerned about the falling number of members attending meetings and the lack of new members joining.

There is also a perceived problem with the reduced number of traditional stamp dealers. Whilst stamp shops just about disappeared in the 1990’s with the advent of internet trading and Trade Me, the number of virtual traders has sky rocketed. So that is another generational divide. Some of us older collectors like to pore through dealer’s stock and attend auction sales whilst the more ‘modern’ collector might access material online on an item-by-item basis.

Personally, I put my energies into my local society, to try new things to retain the membership we have and to recruit new collectors. Some of these are returning to the hobby whilst others are new to philately. All need the support of the membership. At our recent event we made a more serious attempt to connect with like-minded societies – historical and genealogical. The joint presentations we held were especially well received.