November brought us Woking Philatelic Club who gave us a superb afternoon, which was attended by over 70 members. We started with Ron Trevelyan who displayed covers, stamps and postcards of the Paris Exposition in 1937.
Ron Evans displayed war covers from Malta in WWII explaining the different markings, especially the green cross on British forces mail, which meant that they had priority.
Michael Lockton (pictured) gave a PowerPoint display of the history of the post in Woking. At the beginning of the postal system all Woking mail went through Ripon Post Office, which was the major Post Office at the time. Michael started with manuscript markings displaying the amount paid on delivery, through to the first Ripley/Woking postmarks on covers/postcards, along with the types of different postings from parcel post to registered post. The arrival of the railway in Woking in 1838 meant that Woking would now be the main Post Office and left Ripley as the sub-post office, which still has no railway station.