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SACS ZOOM Meeting: 14 - 11 - 2020

One of my great British joys is to attend a SACS (South African Collectors Society) autumn meeting. For me there is something wonderfully cosy and complete about being in the company of like-minded collectors while outside the wind skips leaves along as greyness and damp seeps down and the darkness gathers slowly around us. It is the England I imagined as a boy growing up in Cape Town. Alas, the Corona virus has put an end to all that for the time being!

The solution has been to embrace technology, the most popular one being Zoom, software that allows individuals to meet on-line. Philatelic Zoom meetings are now commonplace as a result of the lockdown. Yesterday, I sat in on the SACS (South African Collectors Society) Zoom Meeting. The fact that this was SACS' first suggests that it has been slower than most in using this technology to meet up. However, I saw enough in the SACS' use of Zoom to suggest that it and South African philately is in in rude good health, if only in the short-term, the future being uncertain.

The meeting was well-attended by some 25 members from the UK, EU, SA and the USA, maybe more. It was well-managed by Tony Johnson, the Hon. Editor of 'The Springbok', the SACS magazine. Despite a trial run a few days earlier, as is ever the case with new technology, if something could go wrong, it did. Tony and the presenters of the displays had several technical challenges to overcome during the course of the Zoom meeting, most due to a lack of familiarity with the process by the presenters. This will improve with time and practice. The trick to getting it right probably lies in not letting the next group of presenters repeat the same mistakes.

As one of the first three to sign in and join the meeting, I was able to see people coming into the meeting whom I had met as SACS members, as well as others that I did not know. Many of the names but few of the faces were known to me as members of the SAPC (South African Philately Club). There is an obvious overlap here between Society and Club with about half the attendees being members of both. As a relatively new SACS member since about 2015 who has met all the regulars at its annual meetings, I found this Zoom meeting a great way to put a face to the name of those who contribute to 'The Springbok' and also those who have joined the SAPC.

The first display was delivered by 'RL' whose name I cannot mention here because he wishes to remain anonymous, a pity because his display was, as usual, different and deserving of praise and his presentation worthy of discussion. (If you respond to this, DO NOT mention RL's name on this forum!). The collection and study of postcards, RL said, is called "deltiology". His postcard display showed South African post offices accompanied by a brief history and examples of their postmarks, the latter acquired with the approval of Prof. Alex Visser.

I was delighted to learn from RL that "Eshowe" is the Zulu word for "sussurus", the wind in the trees.

He showed some lovely postcards,  my favourite being one that showed the original single-storey Market Square PO in Johannesburg, something I have long looked for. RL made a few factual errors, none of which were worth correcting on the day, (ie. the new East London PO was built in 1929, not 1829; also his assertion that Wynberg is named after "vines planted by van Riebeek in 1685". Jan Van R died in 1677 in Batavia.). RL's only serious error was his statement that the first PO in SA was started in the Castle in Cape Town in 1798. If only. If that were the case, the issue of whether the VOC handstamp was ever used at the Cape might go away.

I mentioned this error to RL, saying that the correct date was 1792. Hugh Amoore in Cape Town, seemingly champing at the bit to make the same point  as well, immediately interjected saying "1791". This was almost postal history as lively bloodsport! (Hugh, prepare your ammo for the forthcoming SAPC forum discussion on the VOC handstamp! We look forward to your participation and a lively debate!)

Such was the enthusiasm for RL's display it was suggested that it should be put up on Otto Peetoom's website by his son, Simon, the organiser of conventional terrestrial SACS meetings. RL disagreed saying that he preferred to print it as a book. My views on this are known. Books are not the best way to share knowledge and or a display. The best place for such a display is on-line, free for all to view!

Next up was SACS stalwart and Hon. Secretary Chris Oliver, aslo a SAPC member, who gave a solid presentation of WW2 Censor labels and cachets. At the end of his informative display he was challenged by Jamie Smith, a Founder Member of the SAPC who was attending the Zoom Meeting at my request. Jamie stated bluntly that Chris' explanation about one of the cachets was "wrong. I have only ever seen that cachet used in South West Africa". Chris looked horrified. I have now put them in email contact. Hopefully they will sort this out and publish a conclusion on the SAPC website. Unlike ' The Springbok', a quarterly print magazine, this website provides an instant platform for questions, answers, revisions and apologies should they ever be needed. Perhaps I should apologise now!

Nick Arrow, Hon. Auctioneer, gave a lively and comfortably knowledgeable display on Crash Covers flown to and from SA. This was clearly a subject he enjoyed and was at home with, none more so than when planes of a certain type and weight crashed in water of a certain depth and their mail was recovered and given a variety of cachets. The sound during his presentation was low but (TECHNICAL TIP) turn the volume up on your speaker. This will help.

John Shaw, MBE, Hon. President, was particularly envious of a crashed cover from SA to Paraguay. "It will look good in my Paraguay collection," he said, or words to that effect. "It looks better in my collection," laughed Nick.

And so the day ended with relief that it had gone so well. It was a unique SACS meeting, the first of its kind and enjoyable. It wasn't always elegant but then Zoom meetings seldom are. It didn't always roll smoothly but somehow we muddled through to a happy ending. In the process we have learned not to have the TV on in the background! My personal moans aside, SACS members will surely agree that it was an encouraging, positive start worthy of further attempts on a regular basis, lockdown or not. It is the future. Tony Johnson and Tony Howgrave-Graham, Hon. Chairman, must be thanked for making it happen. It leaves the SACS in a much better place than before.