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We had a total of eight entries for the competition - the same as last year. Once again they represented a wide-spectrum of collecting interests and provided an enjoyable afternoons display. The meeting finished early, even with the winners briefly describing their entries and so for next time we hope to make some changes to provide a full afternoon. The winner of the John Daynes Plate for 2007 was Tom Handley with his display on "British Military Mission to Ethiopia". Following the freeing of Ethiopia from Italian occupation during WW2, the British and other allies set to, to build up a modern Ethiopian army. The British concentrated on technical matters using officers and senior NCOs from the Royal Engineers, REME, etc. Mail from BMME had identifying cachets and is not particularly common. Eddie Weeks came second with his "Zeppelins in World War 1" - during WW1 the German army and navy operated some 130 airships. Most of these had "Kommando" cachets for use by the crew to indicate that mail could be sent free of postage. The use of these cachets was not universal and in many cases only a manuscript reference to the airship number is found. The exhibit also includes covers from the airship bases. Equal third were Michael Dobbs with his "Multinational Force & Observers (MFO)" and Edmund Hall with his "The Troubles: Ireland 1918-2000". The MFO was established to implement the historic peace agreement between Egypt and Israel which saw the end of Israeli occupation of the Sinai. The multinational force began its mission on 25 April 1982 and this display shows the postal markings used on mail from a number of the national contingents that went to make up the Force in its first couple of years of operation, including UK, France, Australia, New Zealand, The Netherlands and US. Accompanying the covers were a number of official photographs showing various activities of the Force. Meanwhile Ed's display on Ireland: Ireland gained some independence after WW1 but the Irish Free State soon erupted into civil war. From the mid-twenties until the 1960s some peace was maintained in the south and the north, still part of the UK. A civil war broke out in the north in the mid-1960s and Britain has referred to its problems with Ireland euphemistically as the "troubles". Shown were several covers of the British in the southern provinces before withdrawal to the north in 1923. Three covers from the civil war of 1921-22; IRA censored or recovered mail from post offices affected by the war. The rest of the display dealt with NI letters/cards with propaganda labels, covers from British troops and prisoner mail of the IRA or loyalists interned or imprisoned for terrorist activities. The last exhibit is two covers with GB stamps illegally overprinted "ULSTER SAYS NO". Most of these covers show how the post was used as a propaganda tool. The other exhibits were Alistair Kennedy with his "BEF Mail Posted at French Civil Post Offices" - the British Expeditionary Force arrived in France in August 1914 accompanied by Army Post Offices. However, some mail was posted in French post offices instead of an APO, especially during the early months of the war. Until mid-October the troops were frequently on the move so some APOs might not have functioned at every halt. Some troops proceeding from arrival ports to the front posted mail in French travelling post offices. John Leathes with his "The Atlantic U-Boat Bases" - the exhibit continues the saga of German U-Boat mail during WW2. It covers the mail from the five Atlantic U-Boat bases including flotilla base mail, individual boats' post, casualty and POW material. Peter O'Keeffe with his entry "WW1 - the First Censor Mark August/December 1914" about various uses of the type one WW1 censor mark during the early period of the war. Frank Schofield with his "British Army in Italy WW1 - The Early Days" showing a selection of early usage of British Army in Italy during WW1, before the five divisions arrived in 1917. |