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93rd Scottish Annual Congress

12th - 13th April 2023 at the Dewars Centre, Perth

Hosts: Aberdeen Philatelic Society

The 93rd Congress was held by the Association of Scottish Philatelic Societies in the Dewars Centre, Perth during the 12th and 13th April 2023 where Aberdeen Philatelic Society were the host society for the two days, and Alex Walker presided as President.

As hosts for the event Aberdeen Philatelic Society have produced a Cover to mark the event.

Click on the following image to enlarge it on a seperate tab or page.

Cover: The cover commemorates the 200th Anniversary of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) The RNLI have permitted Aberdeen Philatelic Society to use their logo and an action photo of the current lifeboat, the 'BON ACCORD' as the theme for the cover. They also provided an image of the appropriate Admiralty chart which we were able to incorporate as background in the design. The Postmark for Congress incorporates the 17th Century Mercat Cross, which has been used as the logo of the Aberdeen Philatelic Society for over 50 years. Contemporary with the first Lifeboat Station, the 1820s Post Office Booth was located within the arches.

Exhibition:

26 dealers of postage stamps, postal history and accessories attended the exhibition from all over the UK.

There were 132 frames of exhibits on display, both competitive and non-competitive:
44 Competitive frames
60 Frames from the Host Society
5 Frames of exhibits from other societies
10 Frames for the Tom Rielly Display and
13 frames for the new Alan Watson Memorial Competition

In addition there were 28 entries for the Junior one-sheet competition.

Competitive Exhibit Displays

Below are all the competitive exhibts for the 93rd Congress. Please select the exhibit you wish to see and it will open up a new page displaying all the sheets from the display for you to view.

Cinderella: (Jean Osborne Trophy)

Open Philately: (Iain T. Boyle Vase)

Picture Postcards: (Scottish Postcard Trophy)

Postal History: (Glasgow 800 Cup)

Scottish Postal History: (Bruce Auckland Centennial Quaich)

Thematic: (Scottish Thematic Rosebowl)

Traditional GB: (Carson Trophy)

Traditional Class Non-GB Post-1900: (Bridge of Allan Trophy)

Traditional Class Non-GB Pre-1900: (Ferris Trophy)

Aerophilatelic Class: (Aerophilatelic Shield)

The winner of the Alan Watson Competion, which is judged by those members of the public who attended the exhibition, was Ian Smith with his entry of "Doon the Watter".

This year the Host Society displays were judged by the immediate ex-President Francis Podger FRPSL and the President elect Graham Mill who judged the winning display to be "Iandian Airmails" by Joe Ritchie who received the "Robert Burns Quaich" during the Annual Dinner.

Tom Rielly Display:

On Friday night the Tom Rielly display was given by Graham Searle of the Canadian Philatelic Society of Great Britain with a display entitled 'Some aspects of Canadian Philately'.
Details of the display can be found in the Tom Rielly section of the website or by clicking here.

President's Welcome & Congress Dinner:

Following the Tom Rielly display the President hosted a small gathering to enjoy wine ot fruit juice prior to the Congress Dinner.

This was then followed by the Congress Dinner. A thoroughly entertaining after dinner speech was given by our Guest of Honour, Robert Murray and the evening was rounded off when the Scottish Congress competition winners were awarded their trophies.
The trophy winners can be viewed on the palmares pages of the website or by clicking here.

Association Awards:

Book of Scottish Philately:

This year the association awarded its highest honour to David Alexander MacDonald from the Aberdeen Philatelic Society for his advancement and promotion of philately.

Award of Merit:

This year the Association presented an Award of Merit to Brian Thomson of the Stirling & District Philatelic Society for his promotion of Philately throughout Scotland. Unfortunately Brian was not able to attend the Awards Ceremony but the certificate will be presented to him at a later date.

Election of New President:

At the AGM held on Saturday 13th April delegates elected Graham Mill from Glasgow Thematic Society to become President of ASPS and George Henshilwood from Caledonian Philatelic Society as the new Vice President.
Below is a picture of outgoing President Alex Walker (on the left) handing over the chain of office to Graham Mill.