Our annual Exhibition was held at Baden-Powell House during February, but unfortunately it was not that well attended either by our members or Scout & Guide visitors.  To those who exhibited, we are most grateful and there was some most interesting material on show.  One of the major Scout exhibitions this year will be the 50th Anniversary of SOSSI being held at Chicago from 25th - 27th May.  The late Harry D. Thorsen the founder of their society would have been proud to know that after fifty years this society continues to flourish with many exhibitions and meetings still being held throughout the U.S.A.  As their newly re-elected Vice President, I will be attending this show, and it is hoped that other members of SGSC will attend.

The Spanish Club "Club Filatélico de Scouts y Guías" will be holding their 6th National Exhibition in Madrid from 19th - 26th October, although at the moment these dates are provisional.  I have attended two of their previous exhibitions where I have been made most welcome, and I can recommend a visit.  Various activities will include Videotapes about Scouting and Guiding Philately, Philatelic workshop for young people, and of course their well-established Dinner being held on the Saturday evening.  It is good to see how this club encourages younger collectors, and I have noted at previous exhibition how many young people attend.  There are four competitive classes, and application forms are available from the club at C/Hortaleza, 19-1° Izquierda, 28004, Madrid, Spain.

During the last two months I have attended the second Yeovil postcard fair, which is now one of the largest in the country.  Good Scout postcards are now becoming more and more difficult to find as the supplies have dried up, with many new collectors entering the hobby.  During March I attended the Stampex show at the Design Centre and the Philatex show at the Horticultural Hall.  These exhibitions held during the same week caused many moans in the philatelic press, but was most welcomed by overseas collectors and our member Hallvard Slettebø from Norway.  Two shows in one week must be good, although some dealers may not agree.  The first weekend of March, the Badgers Club held their exhibition and A.G.M. at Gilwell Park.  This was very well attended and included members from some twelve other countries including Hong Kong and the U.S.A.

A most interesting item came up for sale on Ebay recently.  It was the 1957 U.K. Scout Jamboree set used on 1st August 1957, but with the set showing the B.P. perfins that were first seen on the market five or six years ago.  Much has been written about these perfins, including an article in the SGSC bulletin in the March/April 1996 issue, but there is no evidence to say that they were in use at the time of the Jamboree.  This cover must have been a forgery but how was it produced?  One theory was that the stamps were taken off the cover, the perfins added and then stuck back on the envelope.  The cover also shows the perfin from the 2½d value in the bottom left hand corner.  The picture taken off the net in colour has not reproduced well in black & white, but should give some idea what the cover looks like. It was posted at Ludgate Hill, London on 1st August 1957.  The bidding opened at US $3 and reached $96 (£68) ten days later with a total of nine bidders.  I cannot understand why anybody should go to such trouble to fake an item like this, which the vendor considered of low value?  Was there more than one made?  The vendor, a dealer in collectibles from London told me that it was purchased with many other philatelic varieties from a person he had not met before!!  Your comments would be appreciated.