The Calgary Regional Group meets regularly ten times per year, on the second Wednesday of each month, September through June, except for special occasions.

Program - Lots of buffet food
Topic - Social gathering and eating

The Friday, 14 December, Social dinner was held at the Danish Canadian Club and was attended by 14 members and guests. Along with pleasant company, conversation and food, Bill provided the group with the challenge of Christmas quizzes and stumped many of us as usual. A couple of philatelic items were shown, with Hugh Delaney showing a Winnipeg Stampede cover from 1913, and Dave Bartlet showing a Christmas counter display poster for War Savings Stamps.

Program Speaker - No speaker due to illness - rescheduled to Jan 2013.
Topic - Show and Tell

Unfortunately due to illness, Haifa was not able to present. A group of 16 members had a variety of discussions covering auctions and exhibiting. There was lots of time for Show and Tell, and members provided many BNA items to show the group.

Program Speaker - Jim Taylor
Topic - Newfoundland North Shore

Jim Taylor provided a presentation of his updated Newfoundland North Shore exhibit to 12 Group members. A show and tell was then conducted by members who had brought items in.

Program Speaker - None Scheduled
Topic - Review of BNAPEX2012

The Group reviewed the results of BNAPEX 2012. Show Chairman Jim Taylor discussed various aspects of the show and how it went, and Eldon Godfrey went over the basic financials. Overall, the show was a success - it had one of the best venues and as reasonable as prices had been seen in many years. While attendance of BNAPS members was less than desired, we had enough attendees to make the show profitable. There were great exhibits, dealer bourse, and fun events like the Western dinner and a great banquet.

There was also a Show and Tell.

Program Speaker - Study groups, etc.
Topic - Lots of BNA information

BNAPEX 2012 was held at the Calgary Hyatt Regency Hotel. All attendees had a great show. Study Group meeting were well attended, and attendees perused the dealers and exhibits.

Program Speaker - Andrew Puczko
Topic - Precancels of Canada

12 members attended the meeting on 8 June at the Renoir Seniors Residence in Calgary. Dave Bartlet reported that the next year's committee will be basically the same. He also announced that Calgary BNAPS in conjunction with The Calgary Philatelic Society will hold a joint show in September of 2012. Jim Taylor indicated that a meeting would be held the following week and committees struck to carry out the plans for the 2012 show.

Hugh Delaney introduced Andrew Puczko as the presenter on the topic "Precancels of Canada". While Andrew attended Campion College in Regina with Hugh Delaney and became an eventual successful dealer of Canadian material, particularly RPOs, Wally Walcer, a teacher who collected precancels, got Andy interested in this area of stamp collecting. He described the early patchy history of precancels and showed examples. He outlined the history and evolution of precancels, which ceased with the Caricature Issue of 1974-1976. Andrew showed albums from his collection which drew a great amount of interest from the members attending.

Program Speaker - Joe Smith
Topic - Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force

Joe provided an interesting story of his great uncle who had participated with the Siberian Expeditionary force along with covers. Gordon Hill showed phots and items he had for the expeditionary force too.

Jim Taylor and Jon Johnson provided an update for the proposed BNAPEX 2012 show in Calgary.

Program Speaker - Eldon Godfrey
Topic - Canada At War -- The Post Office Contribution

Wednesday April 13 was the regular meeting of the Calgary BNAPS Group at the Renoir Apartments. Two new members attended with 10 active members. The new members are John Gareau and Vipul Jasani.

The meeting started with Eldon Godfrey presenting " Canada At War -- The Post Office Contribution." Eldon outlined that slogan postal cancellations were prominent on World War II mail. He divided up the various slogans into four categories:

• Human resources such as ENLIST NOW in English and French
• Financial resources like Buy Canada's First War Loan Bonds etc.
• Behavioural needs, including Conserve Coal / Conservez Le Charbon and Save Metals Rags and Waste Paper
• The forecast of victory and a final celebration

Eldon quoted from the Cecil Coutts Catalogue on Slogan cancels which identified the time and place where the cancelling machines accomplished use of the various cancels. He demonstrated the various slogan cancels with items from his own collection via PowerPoint. An enthusiastic discussion followed with some items from other collections circulated.

Discussion also took place on various shows including the Royal in Edmonton in 2012. Jim Taylor and Jon Jonson provided information on venues and costs for the proposed BNAPEX 2012 show in Calgary.

Program Speaker - Bill Wilson
Topic - Edward Rate Covers

A lively evening of BNAPS Calgary collectors at the Renoir Apartments on March 9th featured a PowerPoint presentation by Professor Bill Wilson (U of Calgary) on Edward Rate Covers. Edward was crowned King Edward VII in 1902, and reigned til his death in May of 1910. Stamps of his reign existed between 1903 and 1911. There was active dialogue between members and Bill during his presentation. Bill is a very knowledgeable collector of the Edward period, and he circulated sheets with up-to-date information on the postal rates during the King's reign.

Dave Bartlet thanked Bill, and invited members to bring forward some pieces from their collections. This made for an entertaining circulation of newly acquired and material from other collectors albums. Dave outlined a number of shows upcoming. It was moved by Gordon Hill and seconded by Hugh Delaney that we work with the Calgary Philatelic Society to put on the 2012 BNAPEX, jointly with the Caltapex fall show of 2012. A number of members volunteered to work on the show.

Program Speaker - Haifa Selo
Topic - Recognizing Military Service on Canadian Stamps

A nice turnout of Calgary members viewed a splendid presentation by Haifa Selo demonstrating Canada's "Recognizing Military Service on Canadian Stamps". She divided up the various aspects of military history for Canada into a number of parts including famous Military Men and Women, Equipment, The Monarchy, Various units of Army, Navy and Air Force. This proved to be a wide-ranging presentation and a look at a proud history.

Members presented some new items they had recently acquired, or brought forward some elements of their collecting interests. In all, there were 11 members in attendance.

Jon Johnson outlined a number of forthcoming shows including BNAPEX in North Bay Ontario on Labour Day weekend. The Calgary Bourse for spring will be 30 April and 1 May 2011. The Edmonton National will be held 25-27 March.

Program Speaker - Hugh Delaney
Topic - Sir Sanford Fleming and the Pacific cable system

The January meeting was held at the Renoir Apartments and featured Hugh Delaney with two presentations. He first dealt with the Colonial Conference held in Ottawa with Sir Sanford Fleming (designer of the first Canadian postage stamp) representing Canada. He made a pitch for a telegraph cable to span the Pacific Ocean to link up Australia and other British Islands and ultimately to reach India and Africa. The territories of Queensland and New South Wales in Australia were opposed as they feared it would affect their trade.

Fleming pursued the plan and determined that an intermediate location in the ocean was required to boost the signal. He went so far as to locate an unoccupied island about ten miles from Hawaii which he asked a British Ship Captain to head for Necker Island and plant the British flag as the plan called for the cable to join only the British Empire. Hawaii got wind of this and claimed the island. Hugh showed a cover from Fleming to his wife visiting Government House in Regina, Assiniboia, following the Colonial Conference.

Then Hugh reviewed the development by the United States of a major cable system in the Pacific to Japan, The Philippines, Midway Island, Singapore and Hawaii. This operated from the early 1900s until 1941-42 when Japan conquered most of the region except for Midway Island. Following the war, it was decided that to rebuild the system would not be profitable, so a ship built to lay the cable, the cable ship Restorer, was contracted to recover as much of the cable as possible and it was sold to other companies.

Hugh showed a series of covers from Victoria to the various destinations in the Pacific. The letters were sent to Gordon L. Watson of Victoria, BC, who was the Jointer recoverer of much of the cable. Covers to the ship in Hawaii, Midway Island, North Pacific Islands, Manila in the Pacific Islands and Singapore in the Straits Settlements.

Then Hugh presented background on the four-power division of Germany after World War II. He provided maps showing the locations of the American Zone, British Zone, French Zone and Russian Zone, plus the divided city of Berlin in the Russian Zone. He showed covers to each zone from Canada plus covers from the different zones to Canada and U.S., plus mail from different zones to other zones in Germany.

Following these presentations, members in attendance circulated newly obtained material for their collections. It was a very active meeting and eleven members attended.

Program Speaker - Gordon Hill
Topic - Special Tactical Air Force Squadron

The December meeting of BNAPS Calgary Regional Group featured Gordon Hill who spoke on the Special Tactical Squadron which was part of the second Tactical Air Force. Gordon served with the special group, which was attached to the Canadian Army and was part of the Canadian Army, moving with the army. This meant that the air wing didn't have a permanent base but supported the army as it moved. They could move within a few short hours. They were organized in 1943 and disbanded at the end of the war. They didn't wear air force blue but rather army khaki. Their primary duty was to control the air over the army, intercept enemy aircraft and do air-to-ground dive bombing and reconnaissance. They flew from grass fields using steel tracking laid over the ground. They had fourteen airfields in Europe, including Germany.

Gordon also served in the Aleutians for a time when a joint force of U.S. and Canadian troops retook two islands occupied by the Japanese in 1942-43. He spoke about the task of circulating mail to members who were on the move so much.

Program Agenda - Christmas dinner at the Danish Canadian Club
Topic - Lots of food on the buffet

The Christmas dinner`was celebrated by 9 members and guests who enjoyed a great buffet supper at the Danish Canadian Club.

Jim Taylor (left foreground), Haifa Selo, Doreen and Dave Freeman

Jon and Leanne Johnson, Anne Gray

Haifa Selo, Doreen and Dave Freeman, Jon and Leanne Johnson, Jim and Roberta Taylor

Anne Gray, Dave Bartlet

A good turnout of Calgary BNAPS at the new meeting facilities in the Renoir Centre. We had a great evening of history and covers and stamps. 16 attended and viewed an excellent presentation by Dave Freeman on early printing problems on engraved stamps of Queen Victoria and Edward VII. Re-entries occurred on stamps in use for many years, and some of the re-entries were spectacular. Also, the inking posed a number of problems and resulted in repetitive varieties. Using PowerPoint and enlarging the images provided a clear look at some of the most intriguing changes.

At the meeting we also learned that the annual Christmas party will take place December 3rd at the Danish Canadian Club. Mention was also made relative to the Federation of America International Show in 2012 in Ottawa. A number of members and members of the Calgary Philatelic Society will be entering National Shows with a view to submitting for the Federation Show.

Show and tell revealed a number of items that various members have in their collection that they acquired at shows in England and Victoria, BC, or other auctions.

Hugh Delaney identified a number of people who will be presenting in the new year, including Bill Wilson, Haifa Selo, Bill Pawluk, Andy Puczko, and Joe Smith.

On Wednesday evening, October 13, the Calgary Regional Group of BNAPS held its monthly meeting at our location in the board room of the Renoir Apartment complex in South West Calgary. Chairman Dave Bartlet welcomed ten members and reported on activities upcoming in the world of philately. Haifa Selo, presented a splendid look at art on Canadian stamps, and revealed that many artists have provided their work for presentation on Canada's stamps over many years. Art has been used on early stamps of the Victorian era with members of royalty featured. Much of Canada's vast topography has been painted by many Canadian artists including several groups who are world famous. Haifa presented a veritable feast of art on stamps and identified the artists.

Following her presentation, the members circulated a number of items for members to share, including a copy of the Edmonton Journal when King George V died. A number of vintage covers were circulated as well as ephemera including various books including Englishmen Need Not Apply by Gordon Mallett. The book is a brilliant story of the early airmails and the participation of Major R.W. (Walter) Hale, M.C., the flying postal inspector who helped in organizing the early airmails in the west and north west. This is a must for any collector of postal history and is lavishly illustrated and documented. Our next speaker will be Dave Freeman who will present some Nova Scotia postal history and some work on Victoria's Secret. Hmmm.

Program Speaker Jim Taylor gave a presentation on what went on at London 2010 International Exhibition.

The meeting was lightly attended with several members either not back from BNAPEX in Victoria, or still not back from summer vacation.

Program Agenda - End of season dinner at the Danish Canadian Club
Topic - Lots of food on the buffet

The end of season supper was celebrated by 12 members and guests who enjoyed a great buffet supper at the Danish Canadian Club.

Calgary Regional Group end of season dinner on 28 June at the Danish Canadian Club.

Program Speaker - Eldon Godfrey
Topic - Foreign Exchange Control Board

Eldon surprised us with a talk on the Calgary Stampede with various philatelic items discussed.

Program Speaker - Earle Covert
Topic - Federal and Provincial Liquor Seals

Earle had his usual interesting items to show during his presentation of liquor seals.

Program Speaker - Brian Targett
Topic - Cherry Red Airline, its influence in northern Saskatchewan

Brian provided an interesting discussion of the history of Cheery Red Airlines for the 12 members in attendance.

The March meeting of BNAPS Calgary Group took place on the 19th at our new permanent location, the Chateau Renoir. Graham O'Connor gave a presentation on the Northwest Mounted Police which morphed into the Royal North West Mounted Police and later into the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. His presentation included Sam Steele, famous in the NWMP. He also showed postal history of the Calgary Stampede.

16 members and guests attended and were enthralled by the manifold display of material presented by Graham. Three new members were part of the gathering. President Dave Bartlet outlined a number of shows upcoming and conducted our regular show and tell with members circulating a number of items to tie into the presentation by Mr. O'Connor.

Various members brought in recently acquired items, or items related to the talk for a show and tell.

The Group met on Wednesday, 10 February 2010, at 6:30 pm (doors open), 7:00 pm (meeting begins). We met at our new meeting location - Chateau Renoir Retirement Residence, compliments of Hugh Delaney.

Bill Pawluk spoke to us on Edward VII postal history, 1903-1911.

Various members brought in recently acquired items, or items related to the talk for a show and tell.

The Group met on Wednesday, 13 January 2010, at 6:30 pm (doors open), 7:00 pm (meeting begins) at the downtown Ranchman's Club courtesy of Haifa Selo.

Various members brought in recently acquired items, or items related to the talk for a show and tell.

The regular meeting of the Calgary BNAPS Group was celebrated as a Christmas party and a one-page exhibit by members and guests. Due to a heavy snowstorm only 8 of 18 people could make the dinner (so we had to eat two dinners each).

Those in attendance participated in a fun evening at the Danish Canadian Club. Chairman Dave Bartlet welcomed everyone and after a libation or two, the dinner was a buffet. Following the dinner, Bill Wilson circulated six skill testing Christmas contests for fun prizes. Members and guests displayed Christmas related items.

The final meeting the BNAPS-Calgary Group for the 2005-2006 season took place on Wednesday, the 14th of June . Jim Taylor acted as Chairman as Jon Johnson was away. Ed Harris was able to attend with his right wrist in a cast. It is healing slowly. 14 members attended. Jim attended the American Philatelic show in Washington and reported on the terrific attendance and the great exhibits. He announced that BNAPEX will take place in Calgary in 2007 on the Labour Day weekend, and in 2008 in Halifax. AMERIPEX in Riverside, California, will have a five-frame exhibit from our membership.

Speaker of the day was Dr. Earle Covert, former President of BNAPS. His presentation was on the special envelopes, both from the Post Office and from other provincial government services. These were designed to replace the Special Delivery mail. The anomalies present in the various printings provide for varieties galore and make for an interesting collecting area.

Following the presentation and a question and answer session, members circulated various items from their collections.

An election took place and Jon Johnson was acclaimed chairman for the coming year.

The BNAPS Calgary Regional Group held its regular monthly meeting at the Cardell Centre with 14 members in attendance. Chairman Jon Johnson outlined a number of upcoming shows, starting with the Calgary Philatelic Society Spring Show April 29 & 30. There will be a limited non-competitive exhibition. Mention was made of ORAPEX in Ottawa, PIPEX in Spokane, BNAPEX in Sudbury September 1-3, VANPEX, and Royal-Royale 2006 in Calgary September 29 to October 1st with a section of the Queen Elizabeth Collection of Canadian material, much never shown before. With plannin well in advance, he announced that the Group's Christmas party will be held at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce on December 8th.

A lively interchange took place when members provided some interesting show and tell material. Topics covered included eBay, new material regarding nurses during world War II in many locales throughout the world, some very interesting double perfs on coils from the Centennial era, booklet panes with missing perfs, Zepplin covers to and from Canada, a look at some Large and Small Queen stamps, an item from the Quebec Tercentenary and a letter by a ships captain in the Arctic to a young school boy in New York State explaining what work they were doing prior to returning south for refit.

The evening program was presented by Dr. Don Thompson on the theft of stamp collections, including his own, a numnber of years ago, and the convoluted approach by police forces to apprehend the thieves. He outlined the bargaining away of prosecution in exchange for a long list of thefts of other material. It took years for some of the items to turn up and then to establish provenance, with catalogues and photographs. It was a riveting description and then the indication that less than 5% of stolen material (stamps etc.) is recovered. The duplicity was astounding and the main thief who trained accomplices, and married one so she couldn't give evidence against him. He was convicted on minor items but while in prison trained inmates to come out and work for him. He still operates and travels the world, robbing hotel rooms, apartments, houses and condominiums. He is out of jail at present and living the high life. His name is Darryl Vincent and the press in parts of Canada have made him an icon of sorts. Keep your eyes peeled for him. He could move in next door or compromise your security by buying off the man who is supposed to protect you and your property. He dresses like a millionaire and is very polite all the time.

Seventeen members of BNAPS Calgary Regional Group attended the regular monthly meeting at the Cardel Centre on Wednesday, 8 March 2006. Chairman Jon Johnson announced some upcoming shows of interest, in particular the Pacific Northwest Regional Group is holding their spring meeting in Kelowna on April 8th. A number of members will be attending. The same goes for the Edmonton Spring Show, which runs at the end of March.

He also outlined The Royal 2006 Show sponsored by the Calgary Philatelic Society 29 September - 1 October, featuring a portion of Queen Elizabeth II 's BNA Collection as selected by President Charles Verge of the Royal Philatelic Society of Canada. This is the first time that much of the material will be shown to the public. The curator of the collection will bring the selections from England. The members of Calgary BNAPS will perform duties of Docents during the three days. The collection has been amassed over the years by King George V and VI as well as the Queen. A major contribution by an anonymous donor of $25,000 has helped defray the expenses to move the collection to and from Canada.

Jon also outlined plans to hold a joint BNAPEX/CALTAPEX show, 31 August - 2 September 2007 at the Westin Hotel in Calgary.

Following the business meeting, Bill Pawluk made a presentation on the Numeral Issue of 1898. Drawing on his years of study, Bill revealed a tremendous knowledge of a complex stamp issue. There were rate changes that took place in this issue over its short span, and wet printings on vertical and horizontal wove paper that produced both narrow and wide stamps. Indeed, following the death of Queen Victoria and while Edward VII was at the start of his reign, a new stamp in the series with the Queen's image was released to meet a rate change. Bill also circulated black and white print proofs of much of the series.

Following Bill Pawluk's presentation, show and tell presented a number of interesting items including a page on Zepplin mail into and from Canada shown by Hans Steinbock. These will be entered in the Edmonton Show. Several other items were also circulated.

The BNAPS Calgary Regional Group had 17 members in attendance at our Wednesday, February 8th, meeting. A very full agenda lasted two hours. Jon Johnson, the Chairman, announced a number of shows that may interest our members, including the Spring Show for Edmonton in March, the Pacific Northwest Regional Group meeting on April 8th, with Ameri Stamp Expo in Toronto on the same weekend. Five members are putting together one-frame exhibits never before shown in special categories that normally would not be exhibited.

Also he announced that the American Philatelic Society show is 27 May to 4 June in Washington, DC. BNAPEX will be Labour Day weekend in Sudbury, Ontario, and the Royal will be held in Calgary 29 September to 1 October with a portion of Queen Elizabeth's personal collection inherited from her father and grandfather, and with items never seen on display. At the show, Charles Verge, who visited Buckingham Palace and picked out the items to be shown, will address the BNAPS breakfast at the Royal to explain his choices. Calgary BNAPS will act as Docents for the Exhibition to take people on tours of the Queen's Exhibit.

The Calgary Regional Group voted to bid for the 2007 BNAPEX and to combine the show with the Calgary Philatelic Society and their fall CALTAPEX show. The chairman will convene a meeting with members to delegate people to help plan the show. The last time BNAPEX was held in Calgary was in 1985.

Ed Harris and Hugh Delaney circulated the new book of the BNAPS Calgary Regional Group, Letters from the Far West. Orders were taken and discussions ensued regarding arrangements to sell books at various shows. Alex Price, an ex BNAPS Calgary Regional Group member and an outstanding BNA collector and exhibitor, sent a letter about the book and commended everyone for their work, as authors and for the quality of the book overall. Gray Scrimgeour also reviewed the book for BNAPS and the Postal History Society and recommended the book for all BNAPS collectors. The BNAPS website carries Gray's review.

The evening's speaker was Julius Szekrenyes who presented a slide show of Calgary post cards that provided a tremendous historical look at the growth of the city from the early 1880s to the present day. Following his presentation, members circulated some items that they could share with everyone including some that tied into Julius's talk and others that showed some new finds in their areas of interest. Welcomed back after several years away was founding member Gordon Hill.

The meeting adjourned at 8:55 pm.

Here are photos from the Fall 2004 meeting.

Ed Harris and Program Chairman and BNAPS First VP, Bill Pawluk

Jon Johnson and Earle Covert

Bill Pawluk and Jon Johnson brief Brad Harris for his seminar presentation

Brad Harris presenting his seminar on Bill Stamps

The BNAPS seminar program was well attended