Report on the joint meeting at Heaton Royds on August 19, 2006

This was a joint meeting between the Egypt Study Circle and the Sudan Study Group. It was held at Heaton Royds, which is on the outskirts of Bradford. The displays were as varied as you could wish for and much discussion took place over their content. We saw the following. ESC member 122. Stamp booklets with a selection of attractive scale drawings of the various sheet formats together with the booklets and complete sheets. ESC member 188 Not airmails as you would expect, but splendid Maritime Mails from Egyptian, Italian and German shipping lines, showing Paquebot markings, the cachets of the ships and picture post cards of the boats matched with the covers. ESC member 589. A new face to most of us with some quite outstanding British Forces Seals in panes and on cover. ESC member 356. She was not supposed to have any material over here in the U.K., however she provided a frame full of, appropriately in her case, Medical Revenues on wonderful documents. ESC member 130. He had brought along the Third Issue. A frame of mouth watering stamps followed by a frame of jaw dropping covers. ESC member 238. I always expect to see something challenging from this member and on this occasion he did not disappoint. He told the story of Postal Code Numbering, where the numbers of the despatching office appear in boxes on the reverse of envelopes from 1980 onwards. Cutting edge stuff. ESC member 268. had sought help from fellow members in the form of photo copies of his Egypt used in the Sudan material, which he supplemented with suitable items from his own fine collection. ESC member 165. Two delightful selections. Firstly Interpostal Seals and postage stamps used abroad and then some most unusual U.P.U. Postal Identity cards. ESC member 213. Fakes, Forgeries and Fabrications, or as he put it the "unreal". Starting with 2 stampless covers with added Posta Europea cachets, followed by unreal stamps. All very surreal. ESC member 239. Far ranging material, with the six types of genuine Posta Europea cachets on entires; a pot-pourri of Sudan and then a remarkable showing of covers from Gaza including a few from recent conflicts there. ESC member 168. A nice study of the No Value stamps along with the 1907 O.H.H.S. overprinted stamps. These were shown on cover and document - some of which still need deciphering. A Sudam member. From him we had two superb displays of Sudan. To start with a selection of Airmails including a Marc Pourpe cover. Then, some unique material of the first Camel Postmen stamps. Our host and non member of either Society brought forth two boards of Egyptian picture post cards. One set were embossed view cards produced by B. Edelstein of Cairo in 1909, the other set was produced by "D.P.F." and were Artist Palette cards. They were truly exquisite pieces of art, a real joy to behold. In addition to those mentioned above, we also had the pleasure of the company of members 597and 297 (on a sojourn from New Zealand) and two charming wives. Upon arrival we were greeted with a welcoming mug of tea or coffee. Lunch was a memorable trip down the Nile Valley with food specially prepared for the occasion. We were treated right royally to some sumptuous offerings. Before tea and cakes our president voiced a hearty vote of thanks to our member for organising the event and to generous hosts for this unforgettable day.