Here we present a history of the Shropshire Philatelic Society website. This details how the site came into being, and will list major changes made as the site develops.

17^th May 2006
At the AGM it was suggested that the idea of having a society website should be looked into

As this was the last meeting of the season, there would be no further communication with the members regarding the progress of this idea until the 6^th September 2006 when the new season started.

6^th September 2006
It was reported that the costs of setting up and maintaining a web site would require the funds generated from at least 4 members subscription and that to commit this percentage of the clubs income to an unknown project would not be acceptable.

In the time prior to this being reported to members certain letters and email's had been sent, extracts of which are detailed below

     12^th May 2006
In reply to an email to the Transvaal study circle it was stated that their set up costs were £30 with an additional cost of £10 per annum thereafter to keep the site running.

     23^rd May 2006
Mr J Mayne wrote to Mike Brindle, (the general secretary of the ABPS of which this society is a member), regarding a search of their site which revealed that none of the societies in Shropshire were listed. The list of local societies (P - Z) on the ABPS site, (as of the 9^th September 2006 still had no entries for Shropshire and this make this writer question why we pay a membership to them and what service we receive for this payment

     6^th June 2006
A reply was received from Mike Brindle of the ABPS which stated that their site listed societies that have a link to the ABPS website, thus in reality saying, that if a local club does not have a website they do not get listed. The present writer feels this is unacceptable and they have a duty to promote all member societies equally.

     7^th June 2006
A second letter was sent to Mike Brindle of the ABPS advising of the same problems in greater detail. It was also stated that all member societies should be listed regardless of their ability to run a web site. As can be seen from the link above this still has not happened.

6^th September 2006
As already mentioned, all these details were reported to the members on this date, and it then looked like the idea of a society web site was dead in the water.

The present writer, feeling that the idea should at least be tried before being discarded, committed to obtaining web space on a server at no charge to the club and collected together all the details, (as presented above), relating to tried sources and what was required in the finished product. The site was worked on this night resulting in a working prototype.

7^th September 2006
The site went live and links were sent to a number of specialised collectors for their comments and suggestions

All the suggestions were looked at and the site modified to make it easier to use and more presentable. The end result is the basic site you are looking at now.

8^th September 2006
Links were added for a library, small help guides and to external web sites

9^th September 2006
Following the trail run of the 7^th September 2006, we recieved two philatelic web site awards, which goes to show that word does get around and people do look at these types of sites

24^th October 2006
A reply was recived from M Brindle to the letter of the 7^th June 2006. It would appear that the original leter was delayed in the mail but the reply still gave no details of listing on the ABPS website.

25^th October 2006
John Mayne wrote to Mr Brindle and again stated that as we now had a website there should be a link on their system, and that regardless of this they should promote all member societies equally. None of the Shropshire societies are listed

10^th November 2006
The frames layout for the site was removed and a new main page set up to allow greater amounts of content to be added. Over twenty ne sections were added to the site rangeing from the school boy collection of John Lennon to the Award winning collection of Mr I T Pickering, reference sections on postmarks, watermarks and coronation covers and much more.

12^th November 2006
As of this date, the ABPS has still not listed any of the societies in Shropshire on their site, and this writter wonders if we are getting what we pay for with our membership.

20^th December 2006
The host server for this site, www.philatelics.org, has made almost unlimited space avalible for both the general site and the data base applications. In addittion, he has also re-written the code for the Postmarks Data Base and is working on the code for the plate life information for the Line Engraved issues of Queen Victoria, (GB). The result of this is that we can now present all philatelic related information without restriction to image size, (images being an important part of what is a visual hobby).

7^th February 2007
By this date, the site has developed greatly from its original presentation in both layout and content, the the former being due to the expansion of the latter. The input of ideas for material for the site has been good so far with all the ideas put forward now in place, (even if a few took a while to get up and running right), and for this I thank all those who have put forward the ideas. The owner of the server, (www.philatelics.org) has done everything and more that a service provider can be expected to do and is at this time re-writting code to make some ideas for new sections possible. For this I would like to place on record my thanks, not only for the space provided to host this site, but also for the work he has done with the databases and the friendship he has offered.

17^th February 2007
The main work done on the site in the last 10 day period has been the updates to the postmark database. At this date there are over 2200 names listed and it is estimated that the final total will be somewhere in the range of 10,000 to 15,000. Other updates have also been made to other sections.
The code for the plate life database for the GB Line Engraved issues is slowly taking shape, however the complexity of these issues means that this is a slow process, but one which will be worth while (it is hoped) once up and running.

I have once again checked the ABPS site and still none of the Shropshire societies are listed. This makes me wonder if anyone there is really intrested in local clubs and if we are getting any benifits from membership. It appears to me that the only benifit we get is the use of a judge for the club competition, something very easy to work around should we withdraw membership.

31^st March 2007
It would appear that my original estimate for the number of postmarks was a little high as every Victorian place name that appears on a cancellation is now listed with the total now at 4,765 names and variations listed. The problem now is going to be getting illustrations of each one and adding these into the database. A number of people who have used the site have supplied additional information for this and other sections for which I thank them.

Scans of collections have been forwarded and two have all ready been added to this section of the site. The others are a little complex and require some work before they can be viewed online. (As with all other sections, these will be detailed in the updates section when completted). The Penny Black Plater has had some additional pictures added and is now the most complette illustrated reference to these stamps available on the net. The VR official section has not been equaled to date and this has also had another stamp added

The next section planned for additional work is the encyclopedia, although this may take some time. the intention here is to get all the information in place as text, then update this where possible with pictures.

May 2007
At this time, although cmments regarding the content were in general good, some users had noted that the main page was becoming over-crowded and that this may in turn make users less likely to delve further into the information that was available.

At the same time, contact was recieved from the Land Registry department in London and copies of their archive records sent for inclusion and study, and a suggestion was put forward that a reference to the Post Office Circulars and Notices on-line would be very useful.

Discussions were had with fellow collectors on-line and these resulted in changes being made in June / July.

June 2007
The start of the Land Registry Archives were placed on-line and the Post Office Circulars from 1878 were also scaned and place on-line. initially these were accessed via a seperate link so that a select group could look at the content, comment on revisions and changes and give general feedback. Following this trial period, these two sections were linked into the main site.

1^st July 2007
Following suggestions regarding the cluttered front page to the site, the revised version was uploaded and went live on this date. The general feeling is that the site is now more appealing and easier to use.

2^nd July 2007
A direct email was sent to the ABPS regarding the fact that dispite emails and letters they had still failed to list this site and the details for the club under the heading for societies on their site. A few statements were quoted from their own pages along with details of how they were failing to live up to even these basic requirements.

This seems to have had the desired effect, resulting in a phone call from their webmaster and the club details now being listed and in addition they are going to list the other clubs in Shropshire with contact details where these do not have a web-site.

3^rd July 2007
Work started on the site, bringing everything into a standad format. these minor updates will not be listed in the updates section, but should over a period of time make the site function better as well as giving a better general appearence.