Publisher's Note by Kevin Morgan

I have just returned from the Canberra Stampshow, held over the three days 14 - 16 March.
It was great to meet up with a number of our contributors and advertisers, including fellow auctioneers Charles Leski of CLA, Gary Watson of Prestige and Paul Fletcher of Millennium. Even though two of these three hail from Melbourne it is amazing how little we see them, due of course to the hustle and bustle of our individual businesses.

Correspondents Dave Elsmore, Tony Presgrave and Glen Stephens were also in attendance and Australia Post's Philatelic Manager Noel Leahy stopped by the Stamp News stand for quite a long chat. He is keen to see Australia host another International Exhibition, possibly in 2013 and maybe couple it with a Youth Stamp Design Competition.

Matthew Samarias, my helper at the show is just 19 and has recently started to collect Submarines on Stamps. He was quite disappointed to find only two additions for his collections at the show. On the way back to Melbourne along the Hume Highway we stopped off at Holbrook, where HMAS Otway is on display and there is also a submarine museum.
Holbrook is named after Royal Navy Lt. Norman Holbrook VC, and the fascinating story of his contribution to submarine warfare in the Dardanelles WWI is legendary.

The town previously known as Germanton changed it's name to Holbrook in 1915 and Norman Holbrook made a number of visits there over the years until his death in 1976. His medal group including the Victoria Cross was donated to the town by his widow in 1982.
This month on the 25th we commemorate the 93rd Anniversary of Anzac Day and as usual I will be in attendance at a number of ceremonies in and around Melbourne.
Here at Stamp News we would be delighted to hear about what you collect and why you collect it, no matter how obscure.

You never know you may find other people with similar interests, or who can help with items you need. We have had a real shortage of letters over the past few months and are as usual offering a free 12 month subscription to any letter we consider outstanding each month.

As a further incentive, to all those who write in we are offering a free 40 word classifieds Advertisement in the "wanted" section.

Happy Stamping Kevin Morgan