Philatelist speaker for Inner Wheel meeting

May 8 2008

HAMILTON Inner Wheel Club enjoyed a talk from Alex McGowan at their meeting last Thursday.

Alex provided a wide-ranging talk entitled Fun in Philately that covered the history of the postal service and the development of stamps. He then moved on to his other main interest of collecting postcards.

Alex has been president of the Lanarkshire Philatelic Society and the Scottish Association of Philatelic Societies.

He started his talk by referring to the organising of the postal service by Rowland Hill when the charges were based on weight and distance and when the recipient, rather than the sender, paid.

He referred to the development of stamps, how he became involved in stamp collecting and how he, like most stamp collectors, began to specialise in stamps.

Alex brought many examples of his stamp albums including his earliest albums that reminded many members of their stamp-collecting days.

Alex explained his interest in stamps led to him becoming interested in postcards where he concentrates on cards relating to his home town of Hamilton.

These historic postcards showed Hamilton and the people of the town in a wonderful light. They were often enhanced not only with very old penny stamp postcards but with interesting historical information provided by the sender.

One postcard celebrated the birth of the Duke of Hamilton in 1866; others displayed the grandeur of Hamilton Palace and various elements of the palace grounds like the Mausoleum and Cadzow Castle.

Past president Liz Pettigrew provided the vote of thanks for an entertaining evening.