Many thanks to Jean Osborne for agreeeing to the publication of her photo taken after receiving her award at Torquay Nov 2006.
In her right hand is the Vermeil medal and citation for her entry "Exhibition Labels of the Great White City 1908 -1914" The display consisted of 48 sheets.
Jean has now taken over the job of Secretary in addition to being Treasurer for which she deserves our grateful thanks.
On the 26th of February Ken Lewis flew to Montreal, Canada for a presentation. He had been awarded the Geldert Medal for articles which had appeared in The Canadian Philatelist during 2007 and was the first non-Canadian to be so honoured. Ken has kindly supplied photos from his visit.
Shown above is the crown sized Sterling Silver medal.
Here is Ken (on the right) being presented with the medal by Francois Brisse FRPSC, both are Directors of the Royal Philatelic Society of Canada. At the presentation Francois was the most senior Director at the meeting.
This shows Ken digging out the overnight snow to get to the pub for lunch.
The Canadian Philatelist mentioned Ken's award as follows :-"James Kramer, FRPSC and Chairman of the Royal Philatelic Society of Canada (TRPSC) committee for the Geldert Medal, has announced that Ken Lewis of Swansea, Wales, UK has been awarded the Geldert Medal for 2007. The Geldert Medal is given annually for the best article or series of articles in The Canadian Philatelist, journal of the society.
Lewis was chosen the Geldert winner by the judges for seven articles in the journal last year (2007). The Geldert jury was impressed with Lewis's output. It is not often that the Canadian Philatelist publishes seven articles by the same author in one given year. Over the years, Lewis has been a prolific contributor to the RPSC journal."
Ken says he started writing articles for the ILCS and taking heed of the other members' comments, he improved his article writing skills. For those worried about writing an article for the PC, he suggests - just do it and the other members will make their comments; do not be put off, but take heed of them and improve the next article. Ken recalls this is how he started and prior to joining the ILCS had never written an article. If it was not for the ILCS, he observes, his writing skills would be non-existent. He quotes the adage 'Great oaks from little acorns grow'.
When he landed in Canada the temperature was -41C. When he left to come home the temperature had risen to -11C, somewhat warmer. It was a nice change for him to come home and wear shoes instead of boots for the snow. While in Canada the members of the Lakeshore Stamp Club gave him a very warm welcome and treated him like a king. When he was presented with the medal at one of the regular club meetings they put on a marvellous spread, that was more like a banquet. Later in the week, the committee invited him out for lunch one day to say thank you for visiting the club. This kindness, he says, has only been equalled by the membership of the ILCS.
After having made the effort to set up this website, one of the officers suggested that my photo should appear. I had to think about it but suddenly realised that I had some photos taken at Midpex in 1999. The Postal Order Society had put on a display for the first time. The photo below shows yours truly in front of the display.
Mal with the Postal Order Society's Midpex display July 1999
It must be emphasised that members do not need a medal to be placed on this page. This was the thinking behind my contribution. However, later, thinking about my contribution I suddenly realised that two medals have come my way via the editorship of the Postal Order News, the journal of the Postal Order Society. These medals were awarded at Colopex in 1995 and at Orlando in 1996. Both were silver-bronze and included the normal citation. At the present time philatelic magazines are being produced in colour for societies and unless we do the same more awards are unlikely.
Medals awarded to the Postal Order Society