Welcome to the Humberside Branch Home Page
A QUICK CHAT ABOUT OUR MEETINGS
Humberside Branch is not currently meeting.
A LOOK INTO OUR ARCHIVES
Remember when Radio Caroline was founded, Elizabeth Taylor married Richard Burton (for the first time), the Beatles held the top five positions in the American Top Ten and thirteen of the "Hot 100", The Forth Road Suspension Bridge was at last opened, the Summer Olympics were over in Tokyo, Japan, and Humberside Branch was formed. Could that really have been in 1964!
During the mid 1970s we used to meet on the second Thursday of the month at 30 Hainton Avenue in Grimsby. Our secretary was Mr. W. W. “Bill” Smart, who I am sure a lot of collectors remember for his devotion to tea cards, but who ought to also be remembered for his devotion to his post as he was still Branch Secretary when we had moved venue in 1994, though the Card Times for December 1994 simply says we were meeting "Cleethorpes" - and not giving a venue.
In 1996, with Bill Smart still at his post, we co-hosted the Cartophilic Convention in Lincoln, in conjunction with Lincolnshire Branch.
The Commemorative card for that event shows the Cathedral and the address is given as “at the Lawns” In fact, this was a misprint, it should have read “The Lawn”. This amazing building actually opened as the Lincoln Lunatic Asylum in 1820, and it was supposed to be one of the most humane, in fact within twenty years they could proudly state that no form of mechanical restraint was in use. In 1905 it was renamed the Lincoln Lunatic Hospital, becoming The Lawn Hospital in 1921. It closed in 1985, when the Council bought it to use as a venue for events, including our convention, but in August 2016 it removed the glasshouse and sold the rest of the premises for a new business headquarters, cafe, restaurant and theatre.
This card is unusual because it has a double back, one side is for Lincoln Branch and the other side for Humberside. If you are wondering why, it was to reduce printing costs, as both these branches then issued the card, without the inscription, as half size, with a new front. The Humberside side of this card says we were meeting "...during the evening on the last Sunday of each month at the Royal Naval Club, Cleethorpes. In a friendly atmosphere, members buy, sell and swap cigarette cards, trade cards, and modern issues such as cereal inserts etc…” It seems unlikely that we would have moved twice within the same area within two years, so perhaps this was our Cleethorpes location all along.
In Card Times Magazine copy dated February 2000, we had changed our forces, and were meeting at the R.A.F. Club still in Cleethorpes, but in Alexandra Road..
After that we moved inland to The Sherpa Public House, Grange Lane South, Scunthorpe. The meetings took place once a month on Saturdays,between 10 a.m.and 5 p.m., we had visiting dealers, and an excellent auction, with lists available to all Society Members on application to the Branch Secretary.
In 2020 our Humberside Branch was forced to close by the covid lockdowns, though we also took the postal auction route. And we were all immensely saddened that this virus saw the closure of our regular venue, and the death of its very popular landlord.