44 APRIL 2016
GUERNSEY
Around the islands
Dawn Gallienne joined Guernsey Post as a
marketing coordinator eleven years ago and
became Head of Philatelic in 2008. During
that decade she has worked on a vast range
of stamp issues covering all kinds of subjects;
no day is quite the same. ‘I love the variety
of work in the philatelic world,’ Dawn says.
‘Each stamp issue uncovers different treasures
and I love immersing myself in the topic
and the research behind each theme. We still
undertake some of the affixing and cancelling
in house by hand, so it’s a thrill to see the
final products come together.’
As with any philatelic bureau, the stamp
subjects are carefully planned in advance,
with suggestions being made by collectors,
members of the public, and members of the
Stamp Committee. ‘Our Committee brings
together lots of different perspectives,’ she
explains, ‘we deliberately include people from
different areas of our business so that we have
a range of perspectives.’
Of course, once the subjects are decided
upon, there is one more step to the process,
which involves sending the designs to
Buckingham Palace. ‘The Queen is a
stamp collector,’ Dawn says. ‘Her Majesty
personally approves all of our stamp issues
and we are unable to print the stamps until
we have received Royal Approval. Once the
stamps are issued we supply a number of
sets to go in the Royal Philatelic Archive
at Buckingham Palace. Stamp designers are
always thrilled when they realise Her Majesty
personally approves their work.’
Collectors of Guernsey’s stamps share this
enthusiasm for the stamp sets, but as Dawn
tells us, they’re not afraid to speak up if they
don’t like the stamps! Thankfully most are
very pleased with the output and are keen
to add the stamps to their albums. ‘We have
customers from all over the world and it is
great to meet them when we attend stamp
shows. It’s also lovely when some of our
overseas customers pop in to see us when
they are on holiday in Guernsey.’
The schedule for the rest of 2016, which
will be covered in the regular ‘Around
the Islands’ feature, has many highlights,
including Alderney’s set for the Queen’s
ninetieth birthday, along with the Herm
RAMSAR set for Guernsey. ‘This has been
in the pipeline for such a long time but we
had to wait for Herm to be designated as
an official RAMSAR site,’ Dawn says. ‘It is
the final set in our RAMSAR series having
previously issued stamps on Sark, Alderney
and Guernsey’s L’Eree Wetlands area. Artist
Wendy Bramall has once again produced
beautiful illustrations.
‘It’s really important to us that we continue
to offer innovative and creative stamps across
a diverse range of subjects; planning ahead
is part and parcel of achieving that, which is
why are thoughts are already turning to what
we’ll cover for 2017.’
Watch this space to discover the many
intriguing stories behind Guernsey’s stamps
in the months and years ahead.
Guernsey’s stamp stories
Stamp stories
‘Uncovering the history of Sark through
“The Fief of Sark” issue for Guernsey
last year was really fascinating and
an absolute must for any history
enthusiasts,’ says Dawn. ‘In 2015 we
issued a set of stamps to mark the
Liberation of Guernsey. Most of the
stamps feature photographs taken on the
day of Liberation and one in particular
depicts two young boys having what was
probably their fi rst taste of chocolate.
I really liked this image and wondered
what they remembered of the day, but
we were unsuccessful in making contact
with either of them. To our surprise, on
the day of issue, the younger brother
appeared at our head offi ce wanting to
purchase the stamps. He was thrilled to
be on the stamps with his late brother
and we were really pleased to meet him.’
In a special ‘Around the Islands’ article, we spoke to Dawn Gallienne,
Head of Philatelic at Guernsey Post, and asked her about her
role at the philatelic bureau
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