Launceston Stamp Club held its February meeting recently at Yeolmbridge Methodist Church Hall.

A good turn out of 17 members spent time looking at the items on offer from the stock of dealer Kevin with many going away with additions to their collections.

The chairman opened the formal proceedings by welcoming all present and received reports from the secretary and treasurer. Members were reminded that details of auction lots for the March meeting were required by March 1 and were also reminded of the club’s annual ‘Stamp Fair’ being held at Central Methodist Church, Launceston, on March 5.

The chairman then introduced the speaker for the evening, Terry, whose topic was ‘Royal Mail Bag Labels’. The display consisted of a selection of Royal Mail Bag labels, the bag label being attached to the mail bag by a piece of string and a lead seal crimped on to secure the mail bag. These were later changed to pressed metal seals with the Post Office initials on the surface of the seal. More recently the seals look very much like an elaborate cable tie.

There are many different aspects to mail bag labels, the main function is to be able to identify where the mail is coming from and going to. It also states what type of mail is in the bag for example 1st or 2nd Class letters, packets, special delivery or tracked mail. Some are more specialised such as Missorts, Mailsort, Meter Posting, Walksort, Return to Sender and many more.

Another large section of mail bag labels were used on the Travelling Post Offices (TPOs) — these were carried from Cornwall to Scotland and from Wales to Kent using a system to cover the whole of the British Isles. The TPO system carried mail from cities to the towns and smaller villages but as the railways were cut back and more use made of road vehicles and also flying the mail from one part of the country to another when the routes became less viable they were taken out of service.

Also in the display were bag labels from other countries around the world including New Zealand, Australia, Africa, Germany, India and some others from Jersey, Guernsey, Isle of Man and Ireland.

All in all a remarkable collection which must have been difficult to assemble no doubt over a lengthy time period. A vote of thanks was given by Des who also presented Terry with a certificate of appreciation.

Launceston Stamp Club meets on the second Thursday of each month the next meeting being an Auction on March 10 at 2.30pm. New members are always welcome.