Cover of the Day 20 May 2020 - HQ British Forces Emblem Antwerp

[Peter Harvey]

Somewhat modern, but a very nice cover. I have had the for a while, not really paid much attention to it and then wondered what the Emblem Stamp Club was.

So attached a First Day Cover for the British Cathedrals 1969 stamps neatly cancelled FIELD POST OFFICE 516 28 MY 69. The cover is printed for the Emblem Stamp Club RAOC Belgium, that got me looking and I never realised there was a place called Emblem until today, South of Antwerp. The FPO was located at HQ British Forces Antwerp from July 1969 through to 1990 when the camp was closed, throughout I think this would have been part of BAOR, seems to have been a base for a number of units including Army Ordnance and a number of Military Police and Security units (looks like it would have been a great posting). The base was handed over to developers in 2007, so likely little exists of it, or from it, apart from the my cover !!

[Michael Dobbs]

Peter

An excellent cover - I don't think I have one from that stamp club.  We must be grateful for the various stamps clubs within BAOR that provide us with examples of datestamps used at their locations!

I have attached some information I have on the BFPO 21 address and also text and Order of Battle history for what became British Forces Antwerp.  I have more notes which I need to check against and incorporate into the text document.

I will need to look through my collection - I also recall I also have a letter to the late John Daynes from the Canadian FPO at Antwerp.

[Peter Harvey]

Hi Mike,

I thought you might like this one, I have a couple of other Stamp Club ones that I will try and locate. You also asked be a long time ago about the recruitment slogans from the 1960's again, I have some somewhere, so maybe should find some for covers of the day.

Yes, I think we shall always be grateful to those stamp clubs. Also collectors like John Daynes, without their philatelic efforts, much of the detail and examples might not be available. I still think back on my first visit to the Falklands, there were several days when the post office delivered by personal mail in sacks, with 2 - 300 blueeys at a time from JD, I don't know how he managed it !! I was also in the Falklands at the start of the 1st Gulf War (social distancing) and John's efforts led to me having several chats with the WO1 in the Post Office to explain why my mail arrived by the sack load .

Peter

[Michael Dobbs]

I have now found the letter to John Daynes - it was connected to his facination for official unit Christmas cards and was written in 1967.  I had thought it was from a Canadian FPO, but now realise that the Canadian unit (1 Canadian Base Ordnance Unit) must have used the British FPO facilites.  The letter uses the BFPO 21 address for what was then Advanced Base (British Forces) and the envelope has Belgian stamps to pay for postage - it appears to have been passed initially to the British FPO where it was cancelled on 14 April 1967 who then passed it over to the Belgian PTT who cancelled the stamps with the Grobbendonk datestamp of 15.4.67.

Mike  :)

[Michael Dobbs]

I have to thank you Peter - your item got me to re-mount and write up seven FPO covers from three different FPO datestamps used at the Antwerp complex (including the Canadian letter & cover shown below), acquired many years ago from the late John Daynes collection and left sitting in his A4 paper sheets under the bland heading "British Forces Post Offices in Belgium"  in a pile of "must do" covers!

Mike  :)