The WTSC team captured the GTAPA challenge award!!! Frank’s exhibit “The Unification of Italy” was the big winner with a LARGE GOLD and Denzil’s “Overseas Mail via Bombay 1869- 1898” and Garfield’s “The Expansion of the Post Office in Toronto,1880-1899” both won GOLD. The total points earned allowed our team to easily win this year’s award. Congratulations gentlemen! Well done and most deserving!

WTSC circuit books. This new initiative will give members a further method to fill those holes in their collections and provide a means to dispose of surplus/duplicate lower value material. Thank you to Simon and Victoria Claughton for taking the lead on this new initiative. The WTSC circuit books will debut September 2017 giving members the needed time to put their circuit book pages together.

To celebrate Canada's sesquicentennial we will create a WTSC-Canada 150th commemorative cover. The cover will include a cachet designed by a club member and will use our logo as picture postage. To make this happen by July 1, members are encouraged and invited to participate in a cachet design competition. Members are asked to submit their sesquicentennial cachet designs with a WTSC focus to Sid Mensinga by March 28

Starting on Oct. 4, then on the first Tuesday evening of each month, a new series of get-togethers will offer an opportunity for West Toronto Stamp Club members to share their varied interests in our hobby. The first 'Learning Workshop' -- titled "My Favorite Philatelic Thing (Stamp/Cover/ etc.)" -- will be held in the library behind the auditorium. Be it old or modern, the question is simple: Why did you pick it? Is it old or modern? Was it the beautiful engraving, its over-all appearance, the color, the size, appealing artwork -- a combination of all of the above? Or ... Well, you get the idea. The most important factor is participation. Your session doesn't have to be long. And the more the merrier, as the old saying goes. Whether the 'Learning Workshop' opens a door to influence expansion of your collecting interests, or will just be another good opportunity for fellowship, stamp collecting at all levels brings us together. If you have any ideas for topics, please let me know, either at a regular meeting, or on special green slips of paper available at the members' table in the auditorium. Even your own notepaper will work. I look forward to hearing from you -- and will welcome volunteers for future first Tuesday get-togethers. Come, enjoy, share. Don't be shy! -- Cheers, Ian Robertson

For quite a while, there has been an excellent website -- RetroReveal -- where you could upload a scanned image, then see a variety of filters applied. It was useful in extracting postmarks and spotting flaws in stamps. However, the website is down, as it appears the domain name is no longer registered. The link has now been removed from our list of resources.

The 88th Annual Convention and Exhibition of the Royal Philatelic Society of Canada was hosted by the Kitchener Waterloo Philatelic Society at the Waterloo Recreation Complex. Three West Toronto Stamp Club members were participated in the exhibition with each earning a Silver medal. The exhibits were: DAVID GOODERHAM, The 1994 Great Britain Definitive Mini Sheet (3 frames); CHRIS EDWARDS, Imperial Airways Africa Route, London to Cape Town, 1925 to 1931 (1 frame)); and GARFIELD PORTCH, The Expansion of the Post Office in Toronto, 1880 to 1899 (1 frame).

The Machin Study Group which has been meeting monthly since February 2010 is being suspended indefinitely due to a drop in member participation. From feedback we can conclude that the program was well received and was worth the effort but it has run its course for the time being. Sincere thanks to all who contributed and participated. The Machin section on this website will continue to be updated with Machin information whenever it is received.

The North Toronto Stamp Club had its 73rd annual Club Exhibition at the new National Postage Stamp & Coin Show held in the International Centre in Mississauga. Several West Toronto Stamp Club members were invited to participate in the exhibition and did very well.

63rd Annual Club Exhibition

The annual exhibition was again convened with 45 members and 2 guests attending. The Chairman welcomed Robert Pinet as the judge of the single frame exhibits that were competing for the Drake Trophy. After mounting the exhibits members were allowed time to view and the judge also had time to evaluate the single frame exhibits. Immediately following the viewing period, each member was given the opportunity to present his exhibit as a "show & tell". While the results of the single and multi page exhibits were determined by a popular vote, the single frame exhibits were judged using "club adjusted" national standards.

In the Single Page class, 7 exhibitors entered 11 single page exhibits:
Don Hedger: Vimy
Robert Galway: The Disallowed J.V. Elliott Airways
Jim Dixon: Beaverton, Ontario
Denzil Fernandes: 1851 Postal Treaty & Convention Between Derby Line, Vermont and Stanstead, Quebec
Frank Alusio: Billy Bishop - Canadian Flying Ace
Garfield Portch: Charles Melville Price; and, Unfortunate Timing (1914 Peace Year)
Peter Butler: Ship 1773; Special Delivery; and Canada's First Stamp
Joseph Perrone: Propaganda vs. Truth
The winner of the Alusio plaque, in his first attempt at exhibiting, was Joseph Perrone.

The multi page exhibit class featured four members:
David McRuvie: Letters from Tipe Mission Post Office (3 pages)
Denzil Fernandes: Early British Settlers in America - Letters of one Family (5 pages)
Frazer McKee: Canadian Inuit Stamps (4 pages)
Frank Alusio: CAPEX 1951 (6 pages)
The winner of the Ted Allen Trophy was Denzil Fernandes.

The single frame competition was contested by six members:
Don Hedger: Soldiers Mail from WWI
David Gooderham: Great Britain - the Boots Labels
John Wilson: Talk to My Agent
Frank Alusio: The Ancient Olympiad
Garfield Portch: Toronto - Development of the Branch Offices, 1880 to 1897
Denzil Fernandes: Early Indian Postal Cancellation Types, 1855 to 1885
The winner of the Drake Trophy was Frank Alusio

The awards will be presented at the regular meeting on June 14. Each of the winners received a stock book and each entrant was also awarded a package of stock sheets.

Thank you to Frank Alusio for (again) organizing the evening's exhibition and for acting as Chairman in the absence of our President who is on vacation in Europe.

Garfield Portch was the invited speaker at the Kingston Stamp Club in Kingston, Ontario. There were about 40 members and guests on hand to hear a presentation entitled “Forensic Philately and the Greene Foundation”

Chris Edwards’ single frame exhibit “The Imperial Airways Africa Route, London to Cape Town, 1925 to 1932” was entered into national level competition at ORAPEX in Ottawa. This year the show hosted by the RA Stamp Club and the Ottawa Philatelic Society carried the theme “Aerophilately”. The exhibit earned a Silver-Bronze Medal. Chris would have been proud.

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