News

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.

This short newsletter follows the December 2025 AGM.

A Blast from the Past

I was recently given a big bag of stamps on paper from some adventure tour operator friends who have retired. They were waiting to give it to someone who cared and along I came! The stamps come from 30 years of office correspondence and literally from all corners of the globe including Antarctica, Greenland, Malta, Dutch Antilles and Iceland, to name but a few. Having sorted out the Iceland the next job was to soak them all off. When did you last do any quantity of soaking-off? But what a blast! I had to find my blotting paper, last used years ago. Then I found how back-breaking it was, leaning over the bathroom sink. No matter – what a pleasure! Looking at each stamp in turn, seeing where they are from and what the subject is that’s shown on the stamp. It is such a mainstay of the hobby, but I had almost forgotten how it’s done. This reflects how few stamps I receive in the mail that I want to keep.

Annual General Meeting 2025

Minutes have been separately circulated and have gone to society secretaries. The main points to report are:

• The levy per society member remains at $3 for this year but there may be a modest rise next year.
• The accounts were approved and these have now been lodged with the New Zealand Companies Office.
• The new constitution was approved at the AGM and that too has been lodged and approved by the Companies Office.
• The president and secretary (David Loe and Jeff Long respectively) were elected for a further 12 months though […]