Weeda Stamps: News


FOX TALES ON STAMPS Edition #489 Friday, February 05, 2010
The 21 Club (written by Gray Scrimgeour with some captions by us)
	Gray Scrimgeour takes roll call. The 21 Club is a group of about two dozen active philatelists that meet monthly for dinner and a talk in Vancouver. To avoid possible traffic disruptions associated with the Olympic Games, the group met in Sidney in February 2010. This was the first time in the club’s history that it has held a meeting outside Greater Vancouver. A delicious buffet of pork loin, salad and vegetables was served to members and guests. The 21 Club started in February 1944 with six members. It slowly expanded to the size of about 21 members, and has retained that size. In many ways, it resembles the PSSC (Philatelic Specialists Society of Canada: see http://www.philatelicspecialistssociety.com/), a larger but slightly younger group based in Toronto. Membership in both clubs is by invitation. Our friend, Bill Liaskas, was the 21 Club member who invited Andrew and me to the meeting. The club has no executive or treasury. Its only organization is by rotation of the chairmanship. Each month, a member takes his or her turn as Chairman. He or she keeps the minutes for that meeting and gives the presentation. Because the topic each month is decided by the month's chairman, there is a never-ending variety of presentations. Everything from BC postal history to stamps from Africa, military covers from India, British picture post cards, or cinderellas of the world. The late Peter Steernberg once showed clocks; he showed Maundy money another time. The chairman has free rein to choose a topic or topics. Some talks have "appetizers, a main course, and a dessert": a real mixed bag. Here (left to right) are Bill Liaskas, Bev Wallace, Jack Wallace, Neil Donen, Tim Woodland and John Wheeler. The senior member of the club is Jack Wallace, who has been a member for almost 55 years. Happily, John Wheeler of Sidney, who joined the club in 1978 but has not been able to attend meetings lately, was at the Sidney meeting. Ten guests attended the dinner meeting, with Hal Kellett (from Saskatoon) coming the farthest. Tom Watkins was quite impressed by the sampling of early Greek airmails that Bill Liaskas was discussing with Brian Plain. For February, Gray Scrimgeour was chairman (switching places with Bill Liaskas, who will chair in March). Brian Atkins arranged the buffet dinner at the Shoal Centre. Other Vancouver Island members Neil Donen and Brian Plain helped with arrangements, and picked up (and delivered back) Mainlanders at the Swartz Bay ferry terminal. Two lower Mainland members, Cec Coutts and John Keenlyside, were on their way to Vancouver Island but were prevented from getting to the Tsawwassen ferry terminal by a major accident that blocked the highway for well over an hour. Trips to Toronto or other foreign lands, the flu, or work kept a few other members from attending. Gray's presentation was entitled "US Machine Cancels of the 19th Century." It was shown using PowerPoint. At one side of the room, he also exhibited 32 pages of related material. I can send you his powerpoint exhibit as a .pdf attachment. Just ask me. Bill Liaskas brought four pages of Greek airmails as a prelude to his March talk. Al Wisely, Bob Toombs, Eric Ranger and Gray Scrimgeour in an animated philatelic scrum. This meeting on Vancouver Island was, in some ways, an experiment. Who knows? Perhaps the Island may have a few more philatelic dinner gatherings. Group photograph: Front row (L to R): Bill Topping, Neil Donen, Gray Scrimgeour, Beverly Fox, Bev Wallace, Jack Wallace, John Wheeler, and Bill Pekonen. Back row: Hal Kellett (from Saskatoon), Al Wisely, Bob Heasman, Jim Hudson, Eric Ranger, Dean Goard, Bill Liaskas, Brian Plain, Bob Toombs, Peter Jacobi, Firmin Wyndels, Robin Clarke, Tom Watkins, Brian Atkins, and Tim Woodland. Photographer and missing from the photo: Andrew Blanchard. Firmin Wyndels and I gave the evening two enthusiastic thumbs up. Neil Donen, Bob Heasman and Bill Liaskas. John Wheeler and Robin Clarke getting a bit cheeky.
The Salvation Army Quiz
	We show you a minute portion of the design of a Canadian postage stamp. You have to determine which stamp it is. Send us an email with your answer. We hold a contest every newsletter. For every correct answer we will donate $1.00 to our favourite charity, the Salvation Army. Click here to go to the The Salvation Army International Home Page to see what services they offer to communities around the world.
Answer to Last Week's Salvation Army Quiz
	We received thirteen correct answers to last week's identification quiz. That means a $13.00 donation to Salvation Army. Here's the famous person we asked you to identify Here's the answer - James A. Garfield. For more information go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_A._Garfield .