I am delighted to report that Terry Simister, our current Treasurer has offered to take over as Editor from January 2008.  Peter Duck our current Editor will continue to write for the Bulletin.  This means that we are now looking for a new Treasurer to take over from next January, so if you would consider doing this, please contact Terry or me.  Another change from that date is that the size of Bulletin will alter into an A5 (15 x 21 cm).  The alteration has had to be made due to the increased cost of postage since "Pricing in Proportion" was introduced last August.  It now costs 37p to send the Bulletin which is considered as a "Large Letter", but in A4 size it would be 23p.  However postal charges are being increased again in the near future.  Both the Swiss and German clubs use this same A5 size.  At the moment "Pricing in Proportion" only applies to the U.K.

I did mention in my January/February Chairman's Notes that the 2008 Euro-Scout meeting will be held in Switzerland.  We have been asked to hold the 2010 show in the United Kingdom and our committee at their last meeting have agreed to do this.  It is proposed to hold this in May 2010 and the show would be in the Chelmsford area, close to where the 2007 World Jamboree is being held.

The new higher quality Scout 50p is now for sale in a presentation folder, but to date the main issue of coins will not be available until late summer according to the Royal Mint with whom I have spoken recently.  However they have had many requests to do this before the World Jamboree.  The cost of the Presentation folder which is being sold by the Scout Association is £5.95 with postage extra.  Go to www.scouts.org.uk/shop for this and other World Jamboree souvenirs.  Included is the Isle of Man Europa First Day Covers but these can be obtained much cheaper through Bob Lee, our SGSC stamp dealer.

As you are probably aware, most countries in Europe will be issuing EUROPA stamps this year to celebrate the Centenary of the Scout Movement which is their theme for 2007.  Also the majority of countries overseas will also be issuing stamps to celebrate this great event.  However I was surprised on being given a copy of Philatelie Liechtenstein, the official Philatelic Service that they are still selling the 1953 mint set of Scout stamps at SFR 55 (£23.78) and the 1957 set at SFR 4.50 (£1.94) while the miniature sheet of 12 of that year is priced at SFR 32.50 £14.00.  I understand that Liechtenstein is not the only country that does this, but I think it is bad policy.

The Kent County Scouts are holding their Centenary Celebrations called the "Big Event" at the Kent Country Showground at Detling, Maidstone over the weekend of September 15-16.  The SGSC has been asked to give a display and the committee have agreed to support this event.  In the Time Zone they intend to put on a walk through museum, as part of its attraction showing a wide range of exhibits, Scouting philately is included. Looking at their web site, they have a considerable number of activities including. "Robot Wars, The Time Zone, Aerial Runways, Climbing Walls, The Ice Wall, Archery, Human table football, Racing cars, Blindfold driving, The Royal Marines, The Army, The Royal Navy, Clothes Show, Gang Shows, Daleks, Quasar Laser, Mega Slides, Bouncy Castles, Rodeo Bull, Jet Ski simulator, Target golf, Human gyroscope, Reptiles, Quad bikes.  What else could you ask for!

Recently the Club has taken delivery of some new design enamelled and embroidered badges and these will be available for sale in the near future.  At the same time we are grateful to our member Michael Feigenbaum from the US for designing postcards to celebrate the Centenary of the Scout Movement.  He is a well known artist and many issuing countries will be using his designs for their Centenary stamps.  Again these postcards will be available with prices in the next bulletin.

Recently on sale by a German dealer has been a Registered Cover from Estonia with the special cancellation for the 3rd National Camp held at Paralepa close to the city of Haapsalu. Only a handful of registered covers are known from this Jamboree held in July 1936. Among the 2000 Scouts in camp were contingents from Finland, Lithuania, Denmark Sweden, Poland and Hungary.  A round steel hand canceller approximately 29mm in size was used with the strikes in black.  A special rubber type stamp measuring 18 x 45 mm was used for the registration of covers and was used in either black or red.  Estonian Scouting started in 1912 but was banned by the Soviet occupation in 1940, but was reborn again in 1989 after it regained its independence.