INFORMATION FOR MEMBERS


Executive

A Committee is elected to run the affairs of the Society and meets three or four times a year. It consists of the following Officers: President; Chairman; Secretary; Treasurer and three other members of the Society. We also have a Programme Secretary. With the exception of the President, these posts are elected annually, at the Annual General Meeting. The President is elected biennially. All are honorary posts. The Officers are listed each year in the Society Programme.

In addition, the Society sends a delegate to executive meetings of the Midland Philatelic Federation.

Programme

Meetings start at 7.00pm. The main business of the evening starts at 7.30pm for which we always try to be prompt (primarily as a courtesy to our visiting speakers).

Our season runs from September to June, with a varied programme of activities. In the twenty meetings held each season we aim to invite at least four speakers to give talks and displays on as wide a subject matter as possible. We often find that the subject is all the more fascinating when it is unknown to us. We hold various competitions through the year, which are aimed at encouraging entries from as many members as possible, and we also encourage members to provide short displays of their own material. We visit other Societies, and also invite other Societies to talk at our meetings. Our annual dinner is usually held in February, our AGM is also in February, and we host a Society auction (open to the public), complete with pre-printed catalogue, every March.

Whilst our Programme follows a similar format each year, we are always trying out new ideas and suggestions. A copy of each season's programme of events is issued towards the end of June for the following year. If you have a particular suggestion for a meeting or have seen an idea work elsewhere, please put it forward. The programme is not the sole responsibility of the Programme Secretary.

Newsletters

A most effective way of keeping members informed of what is happening is via a newsletter. The Society publishes a newsletter, “Halcyon”, not necessarily on a regular basis, but we aim to publish around three times a year, once before the start of each season (around the end of August), winter and spring. All members are invited to submit short articles for inclusion in the Newsletter.

Auction

Our main Auction is a rather grand affair, a public auction where members submit lists of items they wish to sell and we produce a catalogue of about 500 lots. The Auction takes place in March (normally on the Saturday following our second Thursday meeting) and takes up a whole day to view and sell all of the material on offer. Most members take part in this with plenty of jobs to be done throughout the day. Catalogues can be supplied on request.

Competitions

The Society holds a number of competitions at various times throughout the year, all of which are well supported by members. The rules we use are derived from those applied at Federation level but less onerous. This gives the entrant a feel for competing at a higher level, but with a less restrictive set of rules to follow. Our competitions also provide a useful forum for members to show their collections in a friendly environment, to ask questions of others and to gain useful tips on the discipline of competitive philately.

Annual Competitions


We hold our annual competitions (Thematic, Postal History, Traditional, Aerophilately, Postcard & Open Class) normally at the first meeting in January. These are each 9-sheet competitions, with the entrant free to choose the title. The winning entries represent the Society at the next MPF Inter-Society competitions.
We also have other Society competitions in the year for single-sheet and 3-sheets, as shown in the programme.


Circulating Packet

Members can also join our circulating packet.  Boxes of around 10 books of philatelic material are passed round between members.

Data Protection

Members' details are held solely for the purpose of administering the Society, and are not transferred to any other organisation or person without the individual members' explicit agreement. We also hold names and contact details for those individuals who take part in our annual auction, either as purchasers or vendors, so that we can keep them informed of future auctions or other events of interest.

Affiliations

We are affiliated to the Midland Philatelic Federation (MPF) and take an active part in this organisation through our representative.  Affiliation to the Federation provides members with an opportunity to enter Federation competitions. which are judged to a slightly higher standard than our Society competitions.
The MPF covers the whole of the geographic Midlands from Derbyshire in the north to Oxfordshire in the south, from Shropshire in the west to Northamptonshire in the east, and encompasses some sixty philatelic Societies.


We are also affiliated to the national body for philately in this country, the Association of British Philatelic Societies (ABPS).