Quote from
Steve on June 5, 2020, 9:50 am
I worked hard to get this month's issue up. The main feature of that exercise was Jamie Smith's KUT display, some 520 pages. It was my first exposure to KUT as an organised philatelic display despite my having bought KUT, both stamps and covers, whenever I saw something that pricked my eclectic interests. KUT has always held a fascination for me given South Africas' involvement in German East Africa during World War 1, then later in WW2 with its defence and the Invasion of Italian East Africa, all subjects covered by Jamie's material.
In addition, Jamie's KUT has a section on the Mau Mau Emergency. For good reason, white South Africans living in the 1950s had an instinctive horror of the savage and dreadlocked Land and Freedom Army, (Mau Mau), a harbinger of what many feared might pop up one dark night closer to home. Keeping such brutal insurrections at arms length was one reason why the South African Government contributed a military force, No. 2 Squadron, SAAF, 'the Flying Cheetahs', to the anti-communist UN alliance fighting to keep Korea in the Western fold. You can see the Club's nascent collaborative display, "South Africa in the Korean War", via the link at the foot of the Home Page.
I am now preparing Jamie's Egyptian Military Material, Parts 1 and 2 for release 1st July, 2020. Jamie has super material. Working with it has been an experience, not only technically and philatelically but also, in an odd way, spiritually. It has led me to a place of quiet, satisfied contemplation. What I like most is that the best of his displays are the ones that formal philatelic societies with judges now call "Open Class", something that appeals greatly to my varied collecting tastes. To the best of my knowledge, "Open Class" is an area of philatelic display that allows, indeed encourages, the combination of stamps, covers, postcards, ephemera and photographs in one display for which the only requirement is that stamps and or postal history represent the greater part of it. In my book, this means that pretty much anything goes, from your great-grandfather's pith sun helmet to my Dad's tin hat. Unsurprisingly, my work with Jamie's awesome material has left me under its spell. As a result, I bought a few items on BidorBuy, the South African auction site, which I thought would not look amiss in his displays. This then is my trailer for Jamie's current KUT, (June 2020), playing on a screen near you right now, as well as a forthcoming blockbuster, Egyptian Military, Parts 1 and 2, plus a revised and updated Invasion of Italian East Africa, plus one of my articles on Burmeister's of East London, (July 2020).
Finally, Hermanus. I have fond memories of Hermanus as a small, sleepy fishing village where the locals would proudly hang their catch of kabeljou and kob on their front stoep. Those days are gone along with the fish. About 15 years ago I went to the Hermanus' Ocean Basket fast fish restaurant thinking I would eat some of the world's finest line fish caught fresh in the surrounding waters of the South Atlantic. I asked what the line fish was and eventually, after some unnecessary obfuscation by a smart-arsed youngster who thought it acceptable and funny to pull the wool over my eyes, I was told that it was Nile Perch. I blew a gasket. Nile Perch is a river fish. From Egypt! They told me it was caught in the delta where it was 50/50 salt and fresh water. I have never eaten there since.
The parents of Roger Bushell, the Johannesburg-born RAF Squadron Leader who organised the famous Great Escape as 'X, played by Richard Attenborough, had a holiday home in Hermanus. After Roger was murdered by the Gestapo his parents retired to Hermanus. Roger is commemorated on the plaque on the gun that stands above the old fishing harbour by the town square.
Regarding the covers below:
TOP: Registered Censored letter KINANGOP '16 JA 41' via NAIVISHA '17 JA 41' via NAIROBI '17 JA 41' and '24 JA 41' to Secretray for Defence, PRETORIA '30 JAN 41' re-routed CAPE TOWN (undated). KINANGOP was part of the notorious "Happy Valley Set".
2ND: RAF CENSOR 759 Airmail from EGYPT 31 PREPAID '26 JL 43' to PRETORIA.
3RD: Airmail Censored letter ALEXANDRIA '7 NO 44' via CAIRO '14 NOV 44' to Private Secretary of Marshall Jan Smuts, PRETORIA (undated).
BOTTOM: Christmas Letter cover from HERMANUS '20 DEC 45' to EAST LONDON (undated).
But which Burmeister is this? All shall be revealed next month, hopefully.
I worked hard to get this month's issue up. The main feature of that exercise was Jamie Smith's KUT display, some 520 pages. It was my first exposure to KUT as an organised philatelic display despite my having bought KUT, both stamps and covers, whenever I saw something that pricked my eclectic interests. KUT has always held a fascination for me given South Africas' involvement in German East Africa during World War 1, then later in WW2 with its defence and the Invasion of Italian East Africa, all subjects covered by Jamie's material.
In addition, Jamie's KUT has a section on the Mau Mau Emergency. For good reason, white South Africans living in the 1950s had an instinctive horror of the savage and dreadlocked Land and Freedom Army, (Mau Mau), a harbinger of what many feared might pop up one dark night closer to home. Keeping such brutal insurrections at arms length was one reason why the South African Government contributed a military force, No. 2 Squadron, SAAF, 'the Flying Cheetahs', to the anti-communist UN alliance fighting to keep Korea in the Western fold. You can see the Club's nascent collaborative display, "South Africa in the Korean War", via the link at the foot of the Home Page.
I am now preparing Jamie's Egyptian Military Material, Parts 1 and 2 for release 1st July, 2020. Jamie has super material. Working with it has been an experience, not only technically and philatelically but also, in an odd way, spiritually. It has led me to a place of quiet, satisfied contemplation. What I like most is that the best of his displays are the ones that formal philatelic societies with judges now call "Open Class", something that appeals greatly to my varied collecting tastes. To the best of my knowledge, "Open Class" is an area of philatelic display that allows, indeed encourages, the combination of stamps, covers, postcards, ephemera and photographs in one display for which the only requirement is that stamps and or postal history represent the greater part of it. In my book, this means that pretty much anything goes, from your great-grandfather's pith sun helmet to my Dad's tin hat. Unsurprisingly, my work with Jamie's awesome material has left me under its spell. As a result, I bought a few items on BidorBuy, the South African auction site, which I thought would not look amiss in his displays. This then is my trailer for Jamie's current KUT, (June 2020), playing on a screen near you right now, as well as a forthcoming blockbuster, Egyptian Military, Parts 1 and 2, plus a revised and updated Invasion of Italian East Africa, plus one of my articles on Burmeister's of East London, (July 2020).
Finally, Hermanus. I have fond memories of Hermanus as a small, sleepy fishing village where the locals would proudly hang their catch of kabeljou and kob on their front stoep. Those days are gone along with the fish. About 15 years ago I went to the Hermanus' Ocean Basket fast fish restaurant thinking I would eat some of the world's finest line fish caught fresh in the surrounding waters of the South Atlantic. I asked what the line fish was and eventually, after some unnecessary obfuscation by a smart-arsed youngster who thought it acceptable and funny to pull the wool over my eyes, I was told that it was Nile Perch. I blew a gasket. Nile Perch is a river fish. From Egypt! They told me it was caught in the delta where it was 50/50 salt and fresh water. I have never eaten there since.
The parents of Roger Bushell, the Johannesburg-born RAF Squadron Leader who organised the famous Great Escape as 'X, played by Richard Attenborough, had a holiday home in Hermanus. After Roger was murdered by the Gestapo his parents retired to Hermanus. Roger is commemorated on the plaque on the gun that stands above the old fishing harbour by the town square.
Regarding the covers below:
TOP: Registered Censored letter KINANGOP '16 JA 41' via NAIVISHA '17 JA 41' via NAIROBI '17 JA 41' and '24 JA 41' to Secretray for Defence, PRETORIA '30 JAN 41' re-routed CAPE TOWN (undated). KINANGOP was part of the notorious "Happy Valley Set".
2ND: RAF CENSOR 759 Airmail from EGYPT 31 PREPAID '26 JL 43' to PRETORIA.
3RD: Airmail Censored letter ALEXANDRIA '7 NO 44' via CAIRO '14 NOV 44' to Private Secretary of Marshall Jan Smuts, PRETORIA (undated).
BOTTOM: Christmas Letter cover from HERMANUS '20 DEC 45' to EAST LONDON (undated).
But which Burmeister is this? All shall be revealed next month, hopefully.
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