Welcome to the Hants & Surrey Home Page
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A QUICK CHAT ABOUT OUR BRANCH
We meet at Normandy Village Hall, Manor Fruit Farm, Glaziers Lane, Normandy, GU3 2DD. Hence our card, showing an apple - even though it turns out to be a crab apple! Never mind...
This Branch has two types of meetings. Most of the year we hold what we call regular meetings, these take place every second Sunday of the month, and run from 1.30 to 4.30 pm, these are leisurely events, allowing local collectors and visitors to get together for chatting and a little convivial swapping of cards However we also hold quarterly fairs, which start at 10 a.m.,and last all day. These attract local and national dealers, and there is a 300+ lot auction which starts at 2.30 p.m. and ends about 4 p.m. The 2023 dates of these are Sundays, April 9th, July 9th, and October 8th
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A LOOK AT OUR ARCHIVES
This branch was formed in 1980. However the first report seems to be in the February 1981 edition of Cartophilic Notes and News magazine, and that said that the third meeting of the branch took place on the afternoon of Sunday December 14th at Church Crookham. Attendance was around twenty members, and a few were noted as being absent. Three members of the Reading Branch also attended. The Chairman, John Walton, also welcomed Gordon Newman and Derek Jenkins who were attending for the first time. The Branch had been boosted by a £25 grant to augment their previous auction proceeds. John Walton gave a short report on the December Council meeting and there was discussion of a branch fair and auction to be organised perhaps in the summer of 1981. The next meeting was announced to be at 2.30 on Sunday the 14th of February 1981, and venues for the next four meetings were also fixed. After that there was an auction of 44 lots, followed by refreshments.
This branch fair did take place, somewhere in Fleet, in September 1981. Anyone remember where? And it was so successful that on Sunday June 13, 1982, a similar event took place, but at a different venue, The Stoke Hotel, Stoke Road, Guildford, between 10.30am and 5pm. Several dealers were there, and there was also an auction of 150-200 good quality lots, which started at 2.15, with time for viewing beforehand.
Now the next event we have tracked down was the Quarterly Fair of Sunday December 11th, 1994, This took place at the Union Building, in Hospital Hill, Aldershot. There were directions by road (B3007, off A323, 200 yards from Princes Hall). There were visiting dealers, refreshments, and easy parking - along with an auction of fine sets and types expertly graded by Vernon Young.
Hants and Surrey were one of three co-hosting branches involved with our 1997 Annual Cartophilic Convention; the other two being Hants and Dorset and Winchester and Solent. All are mentioned on the most attractive commemorative card showing three ocean liners, a familiar sight in the area, from a wonderful drawing by Paul Merchant.
In 1998 we were still holding our Quarterly Fairs at the Union Building, in Hospital Hill, Aldershot, though the advertising for the one of Sunday October 11th adds that it was in the Community Centre, Union Building, and also that it ran from 10 am to 4.30 pm. There was still an auction of fine sets and types expertly graded by Vernon Young - and the lots mentioned are "Singleton & Cole Famous Officers, Franklyn Davey Historic Events, Morris Golf Strokes and ERB War Map of the Western Front (54). Single cards of Wills National Costumes and Waterloo".
They also co-hosted the 2009 Annual Cartophilic Convention, with London Branch, on The Society`s first visit to Surrey. The venue was the Xcel Centre in Walton-Upon-Thames, and it also saw a changeover of Society Presidents; Derek Jenkins was retiring and John Walton taking over.
Though this Branch was prevented from holding meetings due to the covid lockdown, they did continue to hold their auctions on a postal basis, starting in October 2020. The catalogue for these were uploaded to the Society website, and also inserted in loose leaf form as part of our printed magazine.
We cannot finish talking about our branch without a little tribute to a very important friend, our former auctioneer, Vernon Young, who everyone still misses very much. He was an Auction Organiser and Grader for 35 years and he passed away on the 20th of February 2021, a very sad loss of a friend to us all, and a Gentleman who it was a privilege to have met. Clearly our heartfelt thoughts are still with Rhoda, his wife of many years. His contribution to our Society and our Branch stretches back many years, and his dedication to tasks is legendary. Graham Wright