Dinner - Speaker Bill Fiet speaking about the Glenrothes Heritage Centre post cards

On Thursday 2nd February 2017, President Brian Johnson welcomed 23 club Rotarians and speaker Bill Fiet to this lunch time meeting held at the Gilvenbank Hotel.

Three apologies for absence were received.

On reception, this week were Bill Wooton and Peter May.

President Brian Johnson mentioned the 60th Anniversary dinner to be held at Balbirnie Golf Club on 28^th April 2017.

Jim Boyd brought back greetings from The Rotary Club of Kirkcaldy whom he had visited last week.

Iain Haywood advised he had had a meeting with representatives of the Gilvenbank Hub and that the numbers for the Sportsman’s dinner on the 24^th March 2017 looked highly promising

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Our speaker this week was Bill Fiet who gave us a talk about the history of Postcards or being a Deltiologist the collection and study of postcards. In Britain, postcards without images were issued by the Post Office in 1870, and were printed with a stamp as part of the design, which was included in the price of purchase. These cards came in two sizes. The larger size was found to be slightly too large for ease of handling, and was soon withdrawn in favour of cards 13mm (½ inch) shorter. The first known printed picture postcard, with an image on one side, was created in France in 1870 at Camp Conlie by Léon Besnardeau. Conlie was a training camp for soldiers in the Franco-Prussian war. The cards had a lithographed design printed on them containing emblematic images of piles of armaments on either side of a scroll topped by the arms of the Duchy of Brittany and the inscription War of 1870. Camp Conlie. Souvenir of the National Defence. Army of Brittany”. While these are certainly the first known picture postcards, there was no space for stamps and no evidence that they were ever posted without envelopes.

In the following year, the first known picture postcard in which the image functioned as a souvenir was sent from Vienna. The first advertising card appeared in 1872 in Great Britain and the first German card appeared in 1874. Cards showing images increased in number during the 1880s. Images of the newly built Eiffel Tower in 1889 and 1890 gave impetus to the postcard, leading to the so-called "golden age" of the picture postcard in years following the mid-1890s. Early postcards often showcased photography of nude women. These were commonly known as French postcards, due to the large number of them produced in France. The world's oldest picture postcard has sold for a record sum at auction in London. The card - with a Penny Black stamp - was sent in 1840 to a writer called Theodore Hook who lived at Fulham in London. The hammer went down at £27,000 but the total price including commission and value added tax (VAT) was £31,750. This is a record for a postcard, according to postal historian Edward Proud, who discovered the card.

The Rotary vote of thanks was given by Edgar Shields.

On reception, this week Thursday 9th February 2017 will be Jim Boyd and Peter May. This week is a lunch time meeting to be held at the Gilvenbank Hotel. please meet by 12.45pm for a 12.55pm start. Our speaker this week will be Neil Henderson from the Glenrothes Gazette speaking about the the importance of Local Newspapers.