Stamp club fair helps collect members

By Shaun Inguanzo
NOBLE PARK stamp collectors continued their hunt for one of the most elusive prizes last weekend – new members for their club.
The Noble Park Stamp Club is now 26 years old and last weekend held its 22nd annual Stamp and Coin Fair at the Paddy O’Donoghue Centre.
Founding member Max Harding said the group was always on the lookout for new members to keep the hobby and the club alive.
“The purpose is to get our name out there to stamp collectors, a lot don’t want to belong to clubs,” he said.
“Each year we raise awareness through the fair to get new members, and we get three or four each time.”
The club holds its fair every mid-year school holiday period, but this year the timing clashed with another stamp fair in Malvern.
Mr Harding said the club wasn’t aware of the clash but it did not deter people with enough interest in stamps paying a visit to the centre.
Among the potential new members are a mother and her 12-year-old daughter, he said.
Mr Harding said roping young people into the hobby proved difficult because nowadays they were busy toying with technology.
“It’s an ageing person’s hobby, sadly, because the kids have now got computers, phones, and television, and those are our competition,” he said.
The Noble Park Stamp Club has urged stamp collectors and anyone with an interest in trying it to attend its monthly meetings every fourth Monday of the month beginning at 7.30pm at the Paddy O’Donoghue Centre, Buckley Street, Noble Park.