Our annual exhibition at Baden-Powell House London went well with some interesting displays including one from our webmaster Randall Frank from the US who also attended.  There was a steady flow of visitors throughout the day, but it is disappointing that not more SGSC members were able to visit the show.

Information is to hand that the 24th World Collectors Meeting will be held at the Dutch National Scout Museum, Baarn, Netherlands from 18-20 June.  Registration forms can be downloaded from "www.nvvso.nl" or by mail to World Scout Collectors Meeting Registration, S.Vestdijklaan 10, 2343 KV Oegstgeest, Netherlands.  Many of our members also collect Scout and Baden-Powell related ephemera, so this is a good chance to obtain some items for your collection and at the same time meet old friends.

I guess it is the way of the world, but many Philatelic Clubs are losing members and this also applies to our club and SOSSI.  Recently I was passed a cutting from The Sun newspaper where it was mentioned "A Lottery funded project to get kids to take up stamp collecting flopped when not one school signed up.  Organisers sent invitations to 98 schools for a competition centred on a major stamp show in Chester, but none replied.  The North Western Federation of Philatelic Societies won £2500 from the Lottery Awards fund".

The March 2004 issue of the American Philatelist reports that the American Topical Association states that the 11th most popular thematic subject is Boy Scouts, with Plants being the favourite.

Don Staddon writes in the April edition of Stamp Collecting "A Christmas postal service provided by Scouts can provide a useful addition to funds.  This was demonstrated in my local area (wherever that is!) where more than £750 (about US$ 1350 €1090 ) was raised from 5000 cards collected, sorted and delivered.  Some of these services make specially designed stamps available of interest to collectors of Cinderella material".

Recently in Hungary a very scarce 1933 World Jamboree telegram was sold in Auction.  These items are rarely seen and of course they are considered as part of Scout Philately.  The Telegram sent on the last day of the Jamboree reads "After the job well done, we wish you a pleasant and restful summer holiday and send you this printed attachment as a souvenir.  The Telegraph Group".  On the back of the telegram is a map of the camp site showing the places where the Hungarian Scout shop had sales counters.  It sold for Hungarian Forints 170,000 plus 15% buyer's premium making a final price of approximately £500, $915 €735.  This telegram will in due course be available in colour on the SGSC website, as are the other Chairman's Notes images for the last few years.

Plans for the 5th Euro-Scout being held in Prague from 15th-17th October 2004 are progressing well and further information will be available in the near future.  This is being held at the same time as the International SCOUTPHILEX ‘ 04 exhibition which is being held under the auspices of the Union of Czech Philatelists.  At the same time there will be a Scout and Guide collectors meeting.  A social programme is also being organised which includes a reception for delegates at the Czech House of Parliament, a Dinner and walk through Prague at night and a bus trip to the famous castle of Karlstein.  Flights from the UK are available form Gatwick, Heathrow and Stansted and already I know that a number of our members are planning to attend this bi-annual event.