Newsletter 74 – May 2017

• Stephen says
• Federation issues
• Learning opportunities
• Club news
• Information for exhibitors
• Exhibition reports
• NZPF profile

Stephen says –

First of all, thanks very much to all of you who went out of your way to answer the Federation’s questionnaire which provided input to the strategy meeting held on the Sunday after our March meeting. We were really blown away with the amount of responses received.

The responses were varied but the total collated result provided a useful spread of comment which proved very helpful during our strategy meeting.  Many responses focused on subjects, e.g. education officer and the use of social media, which gave us some idea of what activities we should be concentrating on.  There is a lot for the Federation to get their teeth into.  You will be receiving more information from us and, in the short term, we will be asking for more comments from you.

An event I recently attended was the Asian International stamp exhibition held at the Caulfield racecourse in Melbourne.  It was well run and most enjoyable with something like 60 dealers and postal administrations; more than 1150 frames of competitive exhibits; and, many society meetings.  So, there was plenty to keep me entertained over the four days as well as catching up on old friends.

Many other New Zealanders also attended including three dealers and four on the jury.  I cannot ever recall so many New Zealanders being invited on to the jury of an overseas exhibition.  Each day of the exhibition there was a queue of well over 200 waiting for the opening – some had been in line for over an hour.  The majority of them were waiting to purchase limited edition product from Australia Post.

Later in the morning the queue was still there from the Australia Post stand stretching through the hall and continuing outside.  By mid-afternoon it would quieten down so I thought I would check the Australia Post stand out on the last afternoon.  However, as I was about to there was a loudspeaker announcement that Australia Post were discounting selected product by 50% and the queues were back.

It occurred to me that the exhibition wasn’t just for the exhibitors and dealers but for the 100’s or 1000’s of stamp collectors who attended as well.  I suspect many didn’t belong to stamp clubs just like so many who visit stamp shows and exhibitions in New Zealand.  How do we get these collectors more involved in the hobby and joining the clubs?  Something Federation and clubs should be looking at.

Coming up later this year we have the New Zealand Inter-club Competition in Palmerston North in June; the Royalpex half national in Hamilton in November; regional stamp shows in Auckland (NIPEX in June) and Lower Hutt (Wellington Regional Stamp Show in May); and, club shows throughout the country.  So, there is plenty to do and see.

You will see in this newsletter reports of some club activities which we felt were of interest to others throughout New Zealand.  I am sure there will be a lot of other club activities going on that could also be of interest.  Please let us know so we can inform others.

Thank you.
Stephen Chivers

I can be contacted by email at any time – [email protected]

Federation issues

FEDERATION AWARDS 2017

Member societies and clubs have been asked to consider people who could be nominated to receive a Federation award for their contributions to our hobby.

Do you know someone you think should be considered.  Please check on the Federation website for details. They may already have an award (see https://nzpf.org.nz/about-us/philatelic-awards/roll-of-honour/ ) but, if not, check the criteria for awards (https://nzpf.org.nz/about-us/philatelic-awards/ ) and if you think they qualify suggest their name to your society or club and they may make the nomination.

STRATEGIC PLANNING QUESTIONNAIRE

The Federation executive had a strategic planning meeting on 19 March, the day following their normal meeting.  They were pleased to have received 44 submissions from societies/clubs, individuals, members of NZSDA and one from NZ Post.  It was evident considerable effort had been made and the responses provided a lot of food for thought and discussion.

The questionnaire covered seven broad activities; gave a brief outline of current Federation actions in each; and then asked a number of questions related to the activity.  The following attempts to briefly capture significant responses to these questions.

The first activity related to “growth of philately”.  There seemed general agreement that growth is probably unrealistic.  There was an understanding that for every member of a stamp club there is probably at least 100 or more collectors who don’t belong to a club.  Thus there is potential for increased membership and Federation and its members have a role in trying to achieve this.  However, it was also recognised many ‘non-members’ do not want to become members but are part of the philatelic community.  Addressing our members’ requirements may address non-members’ needs and may encourage some to join a club.

Discussion around these points suggested to the executive that one of the alternative activity statements could provide a very useful vision/mission statement for Federation.  This was:

“Preserve philately and keep it healthy for future generations.”

The executive intends to review, and if necessary, amend the statement over coming months.  Any comment on the appropriateness as a vision or mission statement would be most welcome.

It was apparent that there was an overlap in the questions asked through the questionnaire as many comments were duplicated.  Two themes came through early and were maintained throughout, namely:

• More effort by everyone was needed in the area of promotion of the hobby; and
• There was strong need for Federation to provide education opportunities/assistance.

While the executive agreed with the need for promotion of the hobby this is neither simple nor will it necessarily be cheap.  There was general agreement Federation needed to work closely with NZ Post and the NZ Dealers’ Association on this issue.  Simon Allison had mentioned in his address to Federation the day before that it was important the same sort of messages were being made publicly from all three of the arms of the hobby.  It was evident that many saw increased use of social media and other digital media as critical notwithstanding many of our current individual members may not be familiar with the technology.

The possible vision/mission statement highlights, but might help resolve, a major issue touched on by many respondents – “what age should we be targeting for our promotion?’  There is no doubt many individual members of clubs are in the 60+ age group and there is a very real potential ‘market’ in this age group – often people who are retired, have disposable income and time.  However, are they the people who will see us through the next decades in terms of potential society office holders, etc.

Many suggested concentration on youth on the basis that even though they may leave the hobby for a period they ‘will come back’.  Others believed the 30-59 year olds group was a better target – their children were grown-up, they have disposable income and could be our next society office holders.  The executive believes each age group needs to be addressed recognising different approaches will be required for each.

Education is no less difficult than promotion but there was a view some forms of training/education may be more readily achieved within the current resources of Federation, its members and individuals.  Additionally it was, in its own way, a critical element of promotion.  It was agreed the first ‘education’ task was to identify the subject matter of possible courses and proceed from there to determine how the courses might be delivered.  More details are provided in ‘3 Learning opportunities’ below and your assistance is requested.

There is a strong perception that Federation spends ‘too much time’ on exhibiting.  The management and overview of exhibitions and related activities is a major point of difference between its business and those of its affiliated members.  However, the executive is aware of this issue as well as others where perception may not quite match reality.  The responses have highlighted a number of such issues and clearly the executive must address these.

A brief SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis was carried out.  ‘Communications’, as always, with such analyses was seen as a Federation weakness and, of course, this also becomes an opportunity.  Many people made positive comments about the recent efforts made to improve contact and communications between the executive and its member clubs and individuals.  However, obviously more work is needed in this area.

Clearly Federation has a way to go with the strategic plan but believes it has made good progress.

Learning opportunities

PHILATELIC EDUCATION/TRAINING COURSES – WE WANT YOUR VIEWS!

Responses Federation received from its Strategic Review Questionnaire showed a lot of support for a strong education drive on philatelic issues.  It was evident this should cover a wide range of philatelic matters and provide not only for individuals who belong to one or other of our clubs but also for members of the public even if they may never become a club member.

The course coverage proposed ranged from basic, introductory level collecting for beginner collectors to courses for experienced philatelists and exhibitors.

How could courses be delivered and to whom?

Courses might be presented in a number of different ways.  These could include:

• personal presentation by visiting ‘experts’ in the subject;
• templates so local experienced people can present a course following the structure provided; or
• presentation by a national expert using any one of the range of digital technology now available.

The courses could be delivered:

• at an individual club/society level for members and/or public;
• during multi-club gatherings, stamp fairs, or regional meetings for members and/or public;
• at seminars covering a wide range of subjects with invited participants; or
• on demand to individuals or groups using, for example, a web-based system.

The demand for a subject should drive the delivery.  However, issues such as availability of suitable people to develop or present courses; costs of the different delivery methods; and, equipment requirements of some methods will have an impact on decisions about how and when a course might be presented.

What courses should be provided?

A list of possible subjects for philatelic training/education has been developed.  These have been forwarded to our member societies/clubs and a wide range of individuals.  They have been provided with a questionnaire; asked to consider the list; and, provide a rating of how useful each subject might be.  They are also asked to add any other subjects for courses they would like and also rate them.

Everyone, including people who are not members of a stamp club, has the opportunity to provide input as the questionnaire has also been posted on the Federation website.  It can be found at https://nzpf.org.nz/resources/philatelic-education-and-training-course-questionnaire/

The responses received will be used to determine priorities for developing a course and may determine how it might be delivered in the short term.  Federation will, however, also look at longer term options and will develop a time frame for developing a full range of courses.

A collated report needs to be available for the executive committee at their 29 July meeting.  To achieve this Federation would appreciate your response before 22 July 2017.

Club news

WAIKATO / TAURANGA / WHAKATANE

The annual combined meeting between the Waikato, Tauranga and Whakatane clubs was hosted by Waikato this year and took place on 18 March.

John Waller of Waikato advised “the meeting is held in the hosting club’s local area.  The day consists of a welcome, three one-hour talks, with morning and afternoon tea plus lunch (all free) provided by the host society.  There are also sales tables, with each club having its own table.  Much of the food is donated by host club members.  Funding is usually via a raffle, commission from the sales tables, and so on.  The talks are mostly from speakers drawn from the host society’s own ranks.

“The combined meeting was held on Saturday 18 March in the Green Room on the Ruakura Research Centre.  The day was well attended with good numbers from both Tauranga and Whakatane, and it was pleasing to see some rarely sighted members from our club in attendance as well as the usual crowd.

“There were three very different talks – Lindsay Chitty ‘1898 Pictorials’, Robert Livingston ‘Taupo Postcards’ and Alan Craig ‘New Zealand Forgeries’ – and plenty of interest in all of them.

“I think the last of the talks really left people wondering about some of the prized (and maybe even the not-so-prized) material in their collections as some of the forgeries looked pretty good.  Alan described the items he showed as a mix of forgeries, fakes, and facsimiles – and he described the differences between these tags and gave an in-depth discussion of much of the material.”

WHANGAREI PHILATELIC SOCIETY

The annual combined meeting in Northland between the Whangarei, Kerikeri and Kawakawa clubs is being hosted this year at Kerikeri on 17 June between 10am and 3pm.  The programme usually involves a morning tea and welcome from 9:30; a speaker at 10:00; followed by viewing of sales tables, auction material and lunch; a second speaker; the auction; raffle draws; and closes afternoon tea at 3:00.

Visitors from any stamp club and other visitors are extremely welcome.

AUCKLAND PHILATELIC SOCIETY

The Auckland Philatelic Society had a successful Red Dot sale on 20 February with a good attendance of bidders and over 500 lots sold.  These Red Dot sales are a regular feature of the society’s activities with four scheduled for 2017.  The next sales are on 20 May, 29 July and 14 August.

NORTH SHORE PHILATELIC SOCIETY

The North Shore Philatelic Society had a special meeting on 22 February for the opening of their new rooms which include the Allan Berry library.  Over 50 people attended with a number of invited guests including Bob Gibson, secretary of Federation.Bob was asked to formally open the rooms.  He indicated that he was extremely pleased to be invited and flattered to be asked to open the rooms.  He said “these rooms showed the North Shore Philatelic Society was committed to the future of philately and congratulated the society on their efforts”.

 

A brief PowerPoint presentation was made, utilising two monitors permanently mounted on the wall, showing how the rooms had been transformed into its current state through a lot of effort by many people.  A five-year lease, with a further extension has been signed, for the exclusive use by the Society.

CENTRAL DISTRICTS STAMPS, COINS & POSTCARDS EXPO

Colin Dyer reported on a successful Expo as follows.

“The Central District’s 56th annual Collectors Expo and Convention was held in Palmerston North on Saturday 4 March 2017.  Society members from all over and especially from Hawkes Bay, Taranaki, Whanganui, Kapiti, Horowhenua, Wellington and Hutt Valley made early starts to join the many local collectors and public who flocked into the Palmerston North Leisure Centre which featured some seven dealers alongside several popular Society stalls.  An impressive array of more than 40 sales tables was complemented by 30 frames of exhibits, including four frames of the Manawatu Philatelic Society’s winning entries to the 2016 New Zealand Inter-club One-frame competition.  Dealers reported very good interest and trading.

“A special feature of this year’s Collectors Expo was a beautifully restored 1930 Austin Post Office van parked at the entrance and inside the hall, a most interesting range of old mail bags and PO gear.“Michael Sutton and Alistair Gow from the Taranaki Philatelic Society were this year’s guest presenters and their themes of ‘Confessions of a Revenue Heretic’ and ‘Great Britain Postal Stationery 1878- 1923’, provided contrasting and fascinating admiration to an afternoon audience.

“The traditional ‘convention’ nature of the event was underlined by the many ‘catch-ups’ which were so frequently and delightfully obvious within our philatelic fraternity.  The concluding informal meeting of Society representatives were generous in their positive comments that this once nearly moribund event had truly taken on a significant re-generation and the greatly increased patronage was a pleasing and encouraging sign for Colin Dyer and his organising team.”

MANAWATU PHILATELIC SOCIETY 95 YEARS CELEBRATION

Neil Fenwick, president of the Manawatu Philatelic Society, filed the following report of the evening event celebrating the 95 years of the society on 4 March.

“Following their very successful Stamps, Coins and Postcards Expo and Convention earlier in the day a celebration dinner was held at The Distinction Hotel and Conference Centre, Palmerston North to commemorate 95 years since the formation of the Manawatu Philatelic Society.  After the hard graft of assembling and disassembling the necessaries for the Expo, it was an opportunity to relax and enjoy the evening.  Neil Fenwick opened proceedings with a welcome, followed by a filling and tasty smorgasbord meal, in the company of visitors and club members.  These included, from Federation, both the president Stephen Chivers and treasurer Leigh Gravestock.

“The after-dinner speaker, former Manawatu resident but now residing in the sunny Hawkes Bay, was the very well-known philatelist Robin Gwynn.  He noted some of the Manawatu Philatelic Society history and paid tribute to some extraordinary people who had worked hard to make the club the success it is today.  Robin also titillated the brain cells of those present by giving a pop quiz.  His posers certainly promoted much discussion after his spiel.

“The Society created a CAL for the occasion (using the image shown in the design) and a small number of individually numbered First Day Covers were produced with the #1 being presented to Robin. The menus were also individually numbered and #1 was also presented to him (a matched pair).Interestingly out of the 500 stamps produced, two from the same sheet had a minor flaw which was similar but both in different positions.  They showed up as 1mm white blobs masquerading as the sun or moon, shining in between the wind turbine rotors.

“The convivial evening concluded with coffee and a short speech from Stephen Chivers who congratulated the Manawatu Philatelic Society on its anniversary.

“Mention was made that the Auckland and Wellington societies will honour their centenary in the same year as Manawatu, and the challenge issued was to mark our celebrations in a novel and outstanding way.  The thinking caps are on, Stephen.”

UPPER HUTT STAMP CLUB

Andrew McNiven reported how the club’s committee recently met without President, Terry Isaac.  The result was a nomination to present Terry with Honorary Life Membership for the club.  At their 20 March meeting Ray Randle gave a summary of the contributions Terry had made to the club including several years as Secretary and more recently as President.  He was also chairman for the National stamp exhibition Upper Hutt 2013 when the Upper Hutt Stamp Club was celebrating its 50th Year.  This was in addition to his work as a Central Region delegate and treasurer for the NZPF.

Terry thanked the Committee and all those present for this honour. He had enjoyed all the work over the years.Photograph 20 March 2017 – Featuring three life members of the Upper Hutt Stamp Club – as Ray Randle, (committee member) presents Terry Isaac (President) with his certificate for Honorary Life Membership and fellow life member John Goose (Secretary) looks on.

 

WELLINGTON PHILATELIC SOCIETY

The Wellington society held their AGM late April and during that a proposal was made, and enthusiastically endorsed, to elect Michelle Paterson a life member.Michelle has been an active member of the society over many years.  She was secretary from 1990-1994 and has been Patron of the society since 2011.  Michelle has also been active in the society’s Circuit Working Group for many years; has organised the suppers; prepares the envelopes, fills them each month with newsletters and posts them.  She has provided support in a variety of ways with the national exhibitions that the society has hosted and does so also for other local events.  On top of all this she contributes regularly to the meetings with items of interest and from time-to-time provides the evening talk.

 

Michelle was presented with a certificate by Patrick Brownsey, president of the society.

MARLBOROUGH STAMP COLLECTORS’ CLUB

The Marlborough Stamp Collectors’club has its new building on site at Brayshaw Historic Park and ongoing work and fundraising to get it up to standard for use by members is going according to plan.  A few unforeseen things have put pressure on the budget but its looking good.  An official opening date is still to be decided.

The club held their first meeting at the clubrooms on Sunday 23 April.  The clubroom while not finished to the club’s satisfaction is usable and finishing that needs doing will be dealt with as fund raising continues.The club proposes to release a CAL to coincide with the opening.  The CAL design which shows the historic classroom has been designed by Sharon McTaggart an up-and-coming young artist.  Sharon is an active member of the Hutt Valley Junior Stamp Club.

Information for exhibitors

LOCAL, REGIONAL AND INTER-CLUB COMPETITIONS

The next few months are going to be busy on the local scene.

Neville Harris Memorial Inter-club Competition, Wellington – 20-21 May

First off the blocks is the Neville Harris Memorial Inter-club Competition being held during the Wellington Regional Stamp Show 20-21 May at Chilton St James School, Lower Hutt.  This competition is between Manawatu, Horowhenua, Kapiti, Upper Hutt, Hutt Valley and Wellington and is comprised of teams from each club with each entrant providing an 8-page or 16-page exhibit of different classes with a maximum of five frames per club.  The competitive entries will share the frames with displays from members of the local societies.  The show is combined with the local NZSDA Stamp Show and seven dealers will be present.

NIPEX 2017 – 50 Years of Decimal Currency, Auckland – 10 June

The second competitive exhibition to be run in conjunction with Auckland Philatelic Society’s Annual Exhibition is being held on 10 June.  Entries have been invited from all North Island clubs and societies (either affiliated with NZPF or with the Northern Association of Philatelic Societies) and entries of one-frame from adults or half- or one-frame from youth.  A good range of classes are available including an Adult Development class.  The entries along with non-competitive displays will be seen at the Mt Eden War Memorial Hall, 478 Dominion Road, Auckland.

Entries must be in by 26 May.  Full information is available from the Auckland Philatelic Society secretary at [email protected]

New Zealand Inter-club One-frame Competition, Palmerston North – 24 June

Societies should have received information of this year’s competition being hosted by last year’s winner, Manawatu Philatelic Society.  Entries must be in by 16 May so there is little time left.

The entries will be on display at the Palmerston North Leisure Centre (the same venue as the Annual Stamp Expo