Stamp Active at Stampex 2026

Once again, Stamp Active took part in Stampex at the Business Design Centre in London. Susan, Peter and Richard attended the BDC on the Tuesday and laid out the stand in preparation for the start of the event.

Wednesday and Thursday were very busy. The Home Schooling Group, which had attended the previous event last year, had spread the word resulting in additional parents and children attending for the first time. On Thursday there were in excess of 20 children visiting the Stamp Active stamp and one parent was so enthused by it all that they intended to take up collecting stamps. Both Susan and Peter received very positive feedback from the parents.

Saturday’s activities were well attended. These involved pet-themed quizzes and activities around animals on stamps. Postcards were provided, along with stamps from Royal Mail’s recent Pets issue, so young people could send themselves a postcard with the official Stampex cancel.

The Stamp Active auction, as always, was a highlight of the show. 15 young people took part (quite a lot of not-so-young people were in the audience as well) as bidding sometimes became quite competitive for philatelic items related to Harry Potter, the Mr Men or railways. Thanks to Patrick from Spink for serving as the auctioneer, and to all those who donated items.

The winner of the Penny Black, kindly donated by Mulready Philatelics, was Kacey Cunningham.

In the British Youth Championships Class C (age 14-16) Peter Talks won the Small Silver Medal for this impressive work on The Life and Legacy of Mahatma Gandhi. Lancaster Royal Grammar School Stamp Club won the Silver-Gilt Medal with this exhibition, entitled “What’s in the Post”.

The young people attending enjoyed the Stamp Active activities. One of them, Xanthe, said: “Stamp Active provides a fantastic range of activities and really encourages youth philately. The Stamp Active auction on the Saturday is definitely the best event of the show and can be really exciting!”

Over the four days, more than 40 young people visited Stamp Active, with 17 new applications to join Kidstamps.

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