Regular Meetings at 15 Abchurch Lane
Meetings are held at our London premises usually twice per month from September to June.
The Meeting Programme for the 2024-2025 Session
The full meeting programme for the 2024-2025 session, including a programme of online presentations, can be found here.
The King William Street Pedestrian Priority Project
Impact on Access to Abchurch Lane
A major project will be undertaken during the summer and autumn of 2024 and the first quarter and second half of 2025 covering King William Street, Lombard Street, Cannon Street and many of the lanes that connect them including Abchurch Lane.
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This will mean that there will be road closures due to roadworks. Access during these times will be for pedestrians only, with very limited access to vehicles.
Here are the key dates that will affect deliveries and access to the RPSL’s premises. Please note there are more roadworks going on across the ward that may restrict access coming into the area if travelling by car, and all the buses in the area may be on diversions.
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Closure of Abchurch Lane:(also Abchurch Lane will be closed when resurfacing work is taking place in King William Street on the dates shown below)
18 June 2024 to 2 July 2024
21 February 2025 to 7 March 2025
Closure of Lombard Street (also the King William Street dates shown below will affect access to Lombard Street)
2 September 2024 to 13 October 2024
Closure of Cannon Street eastbound (including access to Abchurch Lane)
28 February 2025 to 2 March 2025
Closure of King William Street:
28 February 2025 to 2 March 2025
7 March 2025 to 9 March 2025
14 March 2025 to 16 March 2025
19 September 2025 to 28 September 2025
3 October 2025 to 5 October 2025
26 October 2025 to 28 October 2025
Resurfacing works, taking place from Friday evening to Monday morning as follows:
4 April 2025 7pm - 7 April 2025 5am
Back-up Dates
9 May 2025 7pm - 12 May 2025 5am
16 May 2025 7pm - 19 May 2025 5am
18 July 2025 7pm - 21 July 2025 5am
Back-up Dates
25 July 2025 7pm - 28 July 2025 5am
1 August 2025 7pm - 4 August 2025 5am
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Further information about the King William Street project is available from the Corporation of London, Candlewick ward website: https://www.candlewickward.org/
Also the planned construction phasing, regarding road closures, may be viewed at the King William Street project website: Planned Construction Phasing document
President's Newsletter
The days are getting longer, at least in the northern hemisphere, and there is a definite feel of Spring in the air. There is an upsurge in regional philatelic activity, and we are all looking forward to Europhilex 2025, the United Kingdom's mid-decade international exhibition. The hotels are filling up quickly and it all promises to be a great week of philately in Birmingham and, of course, the Royal will be there.
The philatelic programme for 2025/26 has been finalised and I can promise you rather more 1pm meetings in 2025/26 and we also will experiment with bringing the 5pm meetings forward an hour to 4pm; those I have sounded out about this change are all positive and it will allow time to go back and have another look at the display guided by any insights gained from listening to the presentation.
President’s Dinner
Another great philatelic week will take place in October when I am delighted to announce that the President’s Dinner will take place on Wednesday 22nd October 2025 at Stationer’s Hall by St Paul’s. This is the opening day of Stampex, which will take place at the Business Design Centre, and the day before a return visit from the US Classics Society who will fill the frames at Abchurch Lane. Tickets are available from the RPSL website and from the administration office, priced at £160 each. Online bookings for the President's Dinner can be made by clicking here.
Royal Challenge
It is only a few months since we hosted the Royal Challenge in London. It was won then by the Royal Philatelic Society of Victoria, by just one point. The Royal Philatelic Society of New Zealand were keen to host the next Royal Challenge alongside their national exhibition in Palmerston North earlier this month. John Stimson FRPSL put together a team at short notice and I am delighted to say that we won the Patrick Maselis Trophy back, reversing the one point difference with our friends in Victoria. Well done to John and the team; the full details are available here.
RPSL Programme
The next physical meeting will be on 3 April 2025: 5pm Presentation by Stefan Heijtz - The Postal History of the Faroe Islands 1751-1945.
Also coming up shortly are the following meetings:
- 1 April 2025: 3pm Zoom Presentation by Jon Aitchison - Europhilex – One Month To Go. Click here to register before 2.30pm on 1st April to view the Presentation.
- 24 April 2025: 1pm Presentation 'The Younger Members of the Society Entertain', co-ordinated by Simon Moorcroft.
- 22 May 2025: 1pm Mike Roberts' Presidential Display (a tribute featuring three of Mike's collections).
Regional Meetings
Full details of these regional meetings can be found on the website and in The London Philatelist. In the next month I will be attending the meetings of the Wessex region in Salisbury on 25 March and the South West Region in Tiverton on 6 April.
The Eastern region will be meeting at Stowmarket on 29 March, the Channel Islands members have a meeting in Guernsey on 11 April, and the East Midlands at Tempsford on 26 April. Please do support these meetings and you are most welcome to attend ones outside your own region, just contact the organiser.
In Europe, the German members held a successful meeting in Munich earlier this month, our Swiss members are holding a reception at Bernaba on 14 May 2025, and a meeting in Gibraltar for September has just been announced.
With best wishes
Simon.
Simon Richards FRPSL
President
The Royal Philatelic Society London
21 March 2025
Collections Events
From time to time informal talks and seminars take place, showing the diversity of philately and how it can provide unexpected insights into social, cultural and local history. Click here for information about these events.
Meeting Videos
5pm meetings that have been videoed may be viewed on YouTube, accessible through links on the All Meetings with Documents page.
The full list of meetings can be viewed here.
Meeting Handouts
Our archives hold over 700 handouts provided by displayers at meetings since 1918. These range from single sheets of paper listing the items on display to extensive publications including complex images that can be regarded as significant contributions to the literature. Explanatory notes were at first provided only occasionally but have become normal practice since the 1980s. Many contain material of value to researchers and their production quality has steadily improved. These have been scanned and converted to searchable PDF documents. Click here for a list of the handouts available to view online.
Standing Displays and Regional Meetings
Information about the standing displays and regional meetings, in the United Kingdom and around the world, can be viewed by clicking the menu to the left.