As you will see in Peter Duck's report, the 2008 Euro-Scout meeting in Benken, Switzerland was a great success.  The village situated in a most beautiful part of the country was a superb setting for this bi-annual event, and having the Swiss National camp "Contura 08" nearby gave an added attraction for visitors.  The displays, which were non competitive, were as usual of a very high standard, with exhibits coming from most European countries as well as India and the U.S.A.  During the weekend a meeting of IFSCO, the umbrella organization of Scout and Guide Stamp Clubs, took place with our member Randall Frank being appointed President for the next two years.  IFSCO now has its own website www.ifsco.sossi.org.

I did think that the last Bulletin number 300 was a very good issue, and at last our appeal for articles was answered- Other than the usual contributions from committee members, it was good to receive letters or articles from Don Douch, John Roberts, Benito Gonzalez Bugallo, Peter Shore and Colin Walker.  Regarding the very high priced Baden-Powell postcard that John Roberts referred to, is it dated 1908?  All I can see is March 6th with the year rather blurred, but no doubt the buyer considered it to be 1908.  Therefore if it is, it could be one of the earliest recorded used Scout postcards bearing in mind that the first part of Scouting for Boys was published on January 16th 1908, only seven weeks before.  Do any other members have a Scout postcard with an earlier postmark?

In my last Chairman's Notes, I mentioned the purchase of Jam Roll, the Rolls Royce car presented to B-P at the 1929 World Jamboree and at the same time gave the web site address www.jamroll.org.  Unfortunately there has been some delay with this site going live, but it is now online and you are invited to view this and if you would like to donate towards this project, details are on the website.  The car has recently been on view at Gilwell during the annual reunion where the Hon. Michael Baden-Powell, the grandson of the founder was in attendance.

Although I am attending the FIP International Philatelic Exhibition in Prague this September, unfortunately I will have left before the special exhibition "90 years of Czech Scout Delivery Postal Service Mail 1918" which is being held at the Prague Postal Museum.  This runs from September 19th to November 23rd and will display the stamps and covers of the Scout Post of November 1918.

In 1931 a Scout Roller cancel was used from 16th June to 5th July to advertise the National Jamboree held near Prague in Czechoslovakia.  Three types of this roller cancel are recorded.  The top one shows the cancel used from 16th June, but by 20th June the Roman figure VII has been broken so that it appears after this date as ViI.  The third is a rarely seen cancel with only one circle by the date of the postmark.