SACS One Day Meeting in Letchworth on Saturday 29th August 2026
13 / 09 / 2026
Our latest all-day meeting at Letchworth was attended by 18 members and featured a varied programme of South African philatelic and postal-history displays.
The morning began with Steve Hannath’s excellent display of early Cape of Good Hope material, including rare cancellations and date stamps such as the Barred Triangular Obliterator, Dated Town Oval and Hooded Circle. Highlights included several scarce covers, diamond-field cancellations, early Kimberley and Alice covers, and examples of the Hooded Circular and Truncated Double Circle date stamps.
Peter Eales gave his first-ever display, covering South African Postal Slogans from 1910–1942. He showed 49 different slogans, all on complete covers, including several uncommon examples and World War II material. His detailed research focused particularly on the stories behind the senders and recipients, including Prisoner of War mail. Congratulations to Peter on an excellent first display.
Charlie Rudge presented recently acquired material, including World War II military badges and covers relating to organisations such as the Cape Corps, Indian Malay Corps, Native Services, South African Police and Medical Corps.
The highlight was a beautifully hand-drawn watercolour of the Post Office at Voortrekker Camp, Pretoria, by F. Yates.
Nick Harris then gave a short but impressive display of Boer War material, including his first two purchases, delayed wartime mail, Lord Methuen correspondence, troop ship mail and items relating to the Roodewal incident.
A Dutch Auction followed, along with the 1-2-3 Cup competition. Five entries were received, with Nick Harris winning for his Boer War display. Tony Johnson presented him with the trophy.
After lunch, Keith Perrow displayed an extensive collection of Transvaal stamps from 1877–1909, covering the First and Second British Occupations. He demonstrated numerous varieties and forgeries, V.R.I. and E.R.I. overprints, emergency issues, revenue stamps, perfins, watermark varieties and early commemorative material. Coins, banknotes, wartime letters and postal stationery were also included. Another detailed and informative display from Keith.
The final display was given by Danna Strydom, also on the Transvaal. His material included Specimen overprints, examples illustrating postal rates, V.R.I. varieties and forged £5 stamps. As always, Danna’s material was of exceptionally high quality and beautifully presented.
The meeting concluded at 3.30 p.m. with thanks to everyone who contributed to another successful event. A more detailed report will appear in the October Springbok.
The next two one-day meetings at Letchworth will be held on 10 April 2027 and 21 August 2027. Please make a note of these dates in your diary.
