Quite a few people came to the auction in honor of the eightieth anniversary of the Purmerender Stamp Exchange Club. The milestone was celebrated in De Inval community center with the presentation of a jubilee book. Mayor Don Bijl received it.
Chairman John Dehé immediately saw it as a great opportunity to tempt Bijl to embrace the hobby. He will soon have enough time, because he is retiring.
When asked about his passion for collecting stamps, Dehé says: “I am working on it every day. Nowadays I collect stamps from African countries. For me, that’s also finding out what’s going on there and what’s going on. I also collect postage stamps from the First World War. That is research, figuring out backgrounds… I like that work.”
Founded during the war
The origin of the club is of course also mentioned in the anniversary book. That was during the Second World War. It was allowed by the Germans. “In the beginning there were five members or something, that was not much,” says Dehé. “But at one point the chairman had an American pilot in the attic. That was a strange situation. After that it has grown considerably. That man has been chairman for decades, he has made the club great.”
The club now has about two hundred members. Looking around the room you can conclude that there are few young people among them. “When it comes to young recruits… they don’t come. Every month we get one or two members who are also members of other associations. They like it so much that they also come here to ‘stamps’. special.”
The auction was a success: no less than 95 percent of the items on offer were sold. In total, about 3,400 euros was collected for the ALS Foundation.