Where did it all begin?
It was as early as 1931 that an All Service Philatelic Society was considered. The Service Exchange Club was set up at that time to distribute monthly packets of stamps around the country. It was not until after World War II that the first meeting to propose and begin formulating the Civil Service Philatelic Society was held. This meeting took place in the Cabinet Room at the Treasury on 21 January 1948.

Minutes of the Meeting held at The Treasury in the Conference Room on
21^st January 1948
Mr Ragg of the Post Office Savings Department was in the chair and the meeting was attended by philatelists from the Admiralty, the Ministries of Agriculture, Labour and National Service, Transport and Works and from the London Test section of the General Post Office and by representatives of the Air Ministry Stamp Club, the Patent Office Stamp Club and the Post Office Savings Bank Stamp Club.

Mr Hooper proposed that a society be formed and that this society should be known as the Civil Service Philatelic Society. This proposal was seconded by Mr Sellar and was carried. An ad hoc committee comprising Mr Hooper of the Ministry of Labour, Mr Ragg of the Savings Department and Mr Jones of the Ministry of Works was appointed to prepare draft rules of the Society for consideration at the next meeting and the election of officers was meanwhile deferred.

It was agreed that the next meeting should be held at the Patent Office after a lapse of about four weeks and that an auction should follow the meeting. F J Coomer 16.2.48

Meeting at the Patent Office in the Rotunda 16th February 1948
The meeting was attended by 37 philatelists from 13 different departments. Mr Coomer of the Post Office savings Department was in the chair.
The draft rules prepared by the ad hoc committee were discussed and after amendment were finally approved. Owing to the lack of time, the election of officers was deferred until the next meeting, and it was agreed that the officers then elected should be re-elected en bloc at the AGM.
The places and dates of meetings for the remainder of the season were discussed and it was agreed that the March and May meetings should be held at the Ministry of Works and the April meeting at the Patent Office.

At the meeting on 1^st March 1948 Neville Jones was elected to Council and Mr F J Coomer was elected as the First Vice President, the Secretary was J H Callow (Patent Office), the Treasurer Mr Hooper (Ministry of Labour), Mr Mason the Exchange Branch Superintendent (PO Savings Bank), Mr Ford and Miss Friedlander (Ministry of Transport) were to help on the sub-committee to help Mr Mason.

On the 3^rd May 1948 the Society had £4-3-11 in hand. In July Mr Coomer was elected as the First President of the Society and Mr Ford as the Vice President. At this point the Treasurer was not able to meet the accounts passed to him and Mr Coomer was tasked with going to the CSSC for assistance. At the July meeting the programme for the 1948-49 year was agreed as follows:

Nov 622 and all that, Dec Auction, Jan Egypt, Feb Iceland, Mar Members displays, April Covers, Sept Reports on 31^st philatelic Congress, Oct Ten Decades of Swiss stamps.

November 1948 saw Mr Callow resign as Secretary and Mr E Mason reported sales of 33% in the first exchange packet circulated. In December Mr V K Thompson of the War Office was appointed as the new Secretary and a quiz was held. By January 1949 the third packet was circulating and sales were around 33 %. In February 1949 20 members attended the meeting and were told that packets needed to circulate more quickly but the auction lots had increased in number. By March 1949 Groups had appeared consisting of blocks of members and sales of 25 to 40% were reported on packets. The Third Council meeting decided that meetings would be held September to July and the agenda was produced for the AGM, which was attended by 30 members in May 1949.

The Council meeting in July 1949 discussed a bulletin and it was agreed it should be issued at intervals and Mr Hooper was appointed as editor. The programme for the year was announced as follows: Sept Display by officers and report on 31^st Philatelic Congress GB,
Oct Switzerland by R L Mayston, Nov Scandinavia, Dec Grand Auction and Bourse,
Jan Anthony Walker talking (Editor of Stamp Collecting), Feb Competition night,
Feb Visit to Ministry of Works PS, Mar Canada, April First Annual Competition,
May 1^st AGM, June Informal, July Informal.

At this point you could say ‘and the rest is history’. The CSPS as we know it was up and running in just over a year with meetings, talks and displays, meeting auctions, an Exchange Branch and a Bulletin. Some of the comments made concerning the time to circulate packets and the amount of sales could easily have been lifted from the Minutes of recent years.

Othe

1st January The railways in Great Britain were nationalised to form British Railways   5th January Warner Brothers shows the first colour newsreel   30th January Indian Pacifist leader Mahatma Gandhi is murdered   4th February Ceylon becomes independent of the British Commonwealth   3rd April President Harry Truman signs the Marshall Plan   7th April The World Health Organisation is established   14th May Declaration of Independence for Israel   24th June The Berlin Blockade begins and the start of the Cold War   5th July British National Health Service Act enabled   15th August Republic of Korea established   2nd November Harry S Truman becomes President of the USA   10th December The United Nations adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

r things that happened in 1948