The AGM of the Club was held during June and as usual was very poorly attended with only one non-committee member being present.  Apologies were received from nine members who could not attend for various reasons.  In his report Tim Reed our Membership Secretary mentioned that we had 259 members, an increase of three on last year.  Congratulations go to both Bob Lee and Peter Duck who have been made Honorary Members in recognition of their distinguished services to the club over many years.  Peter Duck has now taken on the role of President from Ron Howard.  It is hoped that the 2009 A.G.M. will be held at the Scout Headquarters Training Ship, The Lord Amory, based in Docklands, London.

Very little Scout philatelic interest being sold on eBay during the last few months.  However the auction held by Spink's of London in June contained a mint half sheet of the Mafeking cyclist 1d stamps.  The description in the catalogue states "1d deep blue on blue, the left half of a sheet with margins on three sides, the lower stamp (10) showing the 'cracked plate' variety, fresh and fine unused with large part or full original gum".  Estimated at £2-3000 it made £16,000 (US$ 31520, Euro 20000) plus of course the dreaded buyers premium.  These stamps were sold from the Royal Collection which personally belongs to the Queen.  The decision was taken a few years ago that duplicated material should occasionally be sold and the proceeds used to purchase other items for the collection.  As they already had a proof sheet of the 1d cyclist stamps as issued, it was not considered necessary to keep this half sheet.  At one time the Royal Collection had one mint and three used Reversed Head stamps from the only sheet of twelve stamps.  Two of these have now been sold, with one of them at least being in an overseas Scout collection.

By the time you read this Bulletin, the 2008 Euro-Scout meeting being held in Switzerland will have taken place.  The next one is being hosted by the SGSC from 14-16 May 2010 at Chelmsford where we have already booked the Shire Hall for this event.

My travels recently took me to Bucharest, Romania where I attended EFIRO 2008.  This philatelic stamp exhibition was held under the patronage of F.I.P. and was the first world exhibition to have been held in Romania.  Unfortunately it was not well supported by the philatelic trade, but the various Postal Administrations were there in large numbers.  The displays were first class and came from all parts of the world.  There was only one Scout exhibit by Panayotis Cangelarios of Greece which was very good and included a number of original artist drawings and scarce varieties.  There is very little Scout material still available in Romania and most of the good material has been sold within the last ten years.  In fact I met two part time dealers who are buying Romanian collections from abroad, who then break them down and sell on eBay or elsewhere either individually or in small lots.  This printing error on the 6 lei stamp from the 1932 Scout set is the only item that I purchased for my collection.

I have been very busy the last few months being involved with the purchase of the Rolls Royce given to B.P. at the 1929 World Jamboree.  Those who visited Gilwell during the 2007 Jamboree will recall that the car was on show, and rumours started to circulate that it was for sale.  With the encouragement of the Hon. Michael Baden-Powell, (the founder's grandson) a Limited Company was formed last year to purchase the car with Michael, myself and two other Directors.  The company named B-P Jam Roll Ltd (after Jamboree and Rolls Royce) has been given charity status and an appeal was sent to a small number of interested people so that the car could be acquired before going public.  The car has now been purchased thanks to a number of large donations and a loan.  We now have to raise funds to pay back the loan and pay for its restoration and insurance.  If you would like to donate please contact our Treasurer steve@jamroll.org or visit our website www.jamroll.org.  It is intended that once the car has been restored it will be loaned for major events in the U.K.