After the summer lull we were back in full swing last night when husband and wife team of Jean and Ted Needham representing Dartford Philatelic Society paid us another visit.

Jean showed French issues of 2007 and 2008 with stamps and miniature sheets etc. For her second display of stamps, postcards and photographs, she showed more material of places visited on holiday (a subject first shown at our meeting on 23rd January 2008), including recent trips on the Danube and to the Dordogne, as well as other new material from central Europe and notably the martyr village of Oradour sur Glane.

Ted showed more of his GVI material including Barbados, Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika and Canadian Officials. He also showed Kelantan from 1911 to 1971, and then a short display about the ill-fated 1931 Xmas flight from Australia to the UK.

The original aircraft flown by Capt Ulm crashed at Alor Star, and although KLM offered to carry the mail on, Kingsford Smith flew up from Sydney and took the mail on to the UK. However the return flight crashed near Cobham Hill in Kent, an event witnessed by Ted as a very small boy. Incidentally the KLM flight also crashed near Bangkok.

Erica Banks Members were also pleased to learn that Erica had won a silver medal in the thematic competitions at Midpex/Thematica for her entry entitled “St. George and the Dragon.”

Our next meeting is on the 23rd September when Tony Hickey will be showing "3rd Reich."

The Society meets in the Public Halls, Bromley Road, Beckenham, @ 7.30pm for 8.pm. New members and visitors are always welcome.

Contact David Rennie on 020 8778 7001 or Chris Sands on 020 8402 1263 for more details or visit our website www.beckenham.net/leisure.asp