Lanarkshire Philatelic Society
"President's Night"
Mr. Michael Cleary
The Opening Night of the Lanarkshire Philatelic Society at their new venue of the Caledonian Bowling Club last Friday (7th September) proved to be a wonderful display!
The new President, Mike Cleary, gave his Display on the subject of "Medicine on Stamps" – and with a fantastic display of stamps, miniature sheets, covers, postcards, gave an amazing overview of medicine from Greek and Roman times through to the present day.
This covered diabetes and the discovery of insulin by Frederick Banting; William Harvey and the circulation of blood; smallpox and the introduction of vaccination by Edward Jenner. Many stamps illustrated dissections and operations – anatomy and surgery – and these were followed by views of Louis Pasteur and Joseph Lister with sterilisation and antiseptic medicine. The discovery of the X-ray by Wilhelm Roentgen; Marie Curie’s discovery of Radium; Polio and the discovery of a vaccine by Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin - were also displayed.
The second round – "Important Development in Medicine" - introduced stamps and covers illustrating Robert Koch and tuberculosis; Albert Schweitzer, Father Damien and the treatment of Leprosy; yellow fever, river blindness, sleeping sickness and malaria. Sir Alex Fleming and the discovery of penicillin. Nursing from its beginnings with Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole.
The display ended with three self-inflicted abuses: Smoking. Drugs and AIDS. A truly amazing display!
Immediate Past President, Ed Archer, led members in giving warm thanks to Mike Cleary for presenting what had proved to be a "stunning" display!
Our next meeting in the Caledonian Bowling Club, Motherwell Road, Hamilton, is on Friday, 21st September, 2012 at 7:30pm when we look forward to a visit from Bob Catto, of Edinburgh, with his display on "American War of Independence".
Anyone with an interest in stamps, postal history, postcards etc is very welcome to attend.