We were entertained by John Bushell at our March meeting on the subject of Antarctic, especially on Chilean material relating to the Antarctic. John started by showed us a map of how the Antarctic was in 1957 detailing the various bases there and how Chile was involved in many different ways from research to weather stations. Chile currently has 13 active Antarctic bases: 4 permanent, 5 seasonal and 4 shelters. We also learnt from a whole frame about the 24 different type of penguins that inhabit Antarctica.
John went on to show us many items from covers, postcards, stamps and a few aerogrammes, known as ‘Polarmail’. We saw many interesting covers from a ‘Joint Services Expedition’ to Chilean Patagonia in 1972/3. The Cambridge Expedition in 1976/7 and some covers from Palmer, the USA research station on Anvers Island. A card signed by Chris Bonington and several others that went on the South Patagonia Survey Expedition. A lottery ticket to raise funds for the 1965 Chilean research station and many more items that we enjoyed.