President’s New Year 2021 Letter
2020/2021
Dear members and friends We have already welcomed the New Year 2021 with more optimism, trying simultaneously to overcome the serious situation that our physical and mental health has suffered due the Covid-19 pandemic, which also significantly affected the operation and the activities of International Organizations such as Lions Clubs and affiliates as LISC and others. During last months the scientific efforts and successes in developing new appropriate virus medications and related vaccines, surely would show a brighter way for a slow but guaranteed path to normality, as now the Lions International and other organizations operational procedures are covered mainly by technology (homework, online service guidelines, virtual meetings). I want to wish to all of you for the New Year 2021 personal good health, happiness and further achievement of your future personal and professional aspirations. Furthermore, I would specifically like to thank those officers and members who have already shown a personal capacity and cooperation in improving the overall course of LISC, either in their local Chapters, or in the wider activities frame of the International Board. Under the prevailing difficult circumstances, I tried during this year of my presidency not to lose or disrupt the LISC normal operating procedures, but to propose and mobilize new and improvement moves. Dear friends, it is universally and timelessly accepted that the interpersonal contacts and constant information can keep alive a group of persons, an Organization, a useful idea, an important action. For that reason, I gave priority even my own personal expense- to the republication of "Philatelist" Magazine, which together with the updated 2020 LISC Catalog and Encyclopedia in President’s Letter............. 1 website, are the main pillars for secure information and tightening of our members. I strongly invite you to read our magazine and support with your own or Chapter LISC Committees.............. 2 up-to-date news, articles, stamps, photos, activities and constructive ideas for a continuous improvement. At this point, I want to express my specific In Memoriam.................... 2 appreciation and thanks to the Magazine’s graphic designing manager LISC Board 2020-2021....... 3 L.George Chrissovitsianos, as well as to 1st Vice President and LISC Webmaster PCC Peter Brandenburg for their essential help and continuous support to that Financial statement ...... 4-5 action. Further, I strongly invite you to read the magazine and support with your own or Chapters’ up-to-date news, articles, stamps and photos, activities and Webshop Auctions........... 5 constructive ideas for a continuous improvement. Another point of interest, is the need of updating or partially correcting the LISC Constitution and the other Why we are members official documents. Two experienced LISC officers, Secretary David Mc Kirdy and Past President of LISC .......................... 6 Howard Levenson -with a smaller personal help from me-, undertook basically this difficult task of modifying, rewriting and presenting those documents for LISC membership discussion at interim Board Meetings before Montreal LISC BOD and AGM. management................ 7 I express a lot of thanks to them. Furthermore, another innovation for LISC during this year would be a new operational platform for registering and informing N.I.S & Webshop ............. 8 the Board of Directors and Chapters, for the on time Membership and Dues information and balance. That platform, has already been announced and partly New members ................ 8 presented by Eric Koch from Singapore, during our last AGM in Milan Convention (2019). I express my sincere appreciation to him. The presence and capacity of our members ensures success. Dear members, let’s go for the LISC updated physiognomy, recognizability and efficiency on 2021. Keep Safe - Stay Active ! Sincerely in Lionism and Philately, PCC SPYROS SEREMIDIS, LISC President 2020-2021
Spyros Seremidis
In this Issue
No.236/2021
February
LISC COMMITEES 2020-2021
Executive Committee
SC WEBSITE VISIT OUR NEW LI.lisc.nl/ https://www
SECRETARY NEWS
MEMBERSHIP
Please again accept my thanks to those Chapters and individual members who have already remitted their 2020/21 dues. May I also remind you that the emailed invoice you received can be retained in your records to support the payment already made. It would be appreciated if those Chapters or individual members that have not paid their dues give this matter their urgent attention. Payment details are outlined below. Please ensure you email the LISC Secretary (davidmckirdy@aol.com) when payment is remitted. Please also advise the LISC Secretary of any changes to contact details. a. US Members – please forward a US$ cheque (currently $20) to Lion Doug Schembs who will bank it with the Harris Bank in the US. Members can if they wish remit (currently €15) to the bank in Belgium but please remember to pay the bank charges, the US cheque option is probably the easiest and cheapest method. b. Members from the Rest of the world – please remit dues direct to the Belgian Bank (currently €15), please remember that any charges are the senders’ responsibility. Membership Database: Until the new version of the Membership Database that is being developed by Lion Eric Koh, a member of Chapter 22 in Singapore, has been rolled out to Chapter Secretaries you are requested to forward any amendments to your membership to the LISC Secretary. When Eric is ready for rollout he will issue with full instructions regarding Logon, Security of Data and how you are able to interrogate and amend your Chapter data. Accounts: The accounts for 2019/20 are published in this issue of the Philatelist. Whilst it should be noted that our income has fallen this is mainly because of the Coronavirus causing the cancellation of Convention resulting in a drastic fall of Webshop Sales and the discontinuance of the New Issues Service. Expenditure also fell with no Officer Expenses and reduced costs of purchases. DAVID McKIRDY, LISC Secretary & Treasurer - davidmckirdy@aol.com
IN MEMORIAM
With great sadness we suddenly informed the loss of a calm, smiling, gentle friend and dynamic Lion member and it is my sad duty, to announce to LISC members and friends. Alain-Pierre Schmid born in Lyon, continued his studies and his professional activities in Lyon and Paris and later in New Caledonia (Noumea). He was a distinguished member of the “Noumea- Doyen Lions club” for many years, organizing and participating in many Telethon events and other activities of his club, serving in different offices and club President, also was an elected District Governor of New Caledonia clubs. Alain-Pierre participated in various LISC Committees awarded for his Lions services, also served as Director and LISC 2nd Vice President 2020-2021. He was with a good inspiration to design and present us a few months ago, a beautiful LISC cover for the next Montreal Lions International Convention. Dear Alain-Pierre rest in peace. SPYROS SEREMIDIS, LISC President
______________ . _____________________ We also regret the loss of Lion Allan Henderson. He was retired school Principal, loving the stamps and Golf. Alan served as President of Horsham L.C. District Governor 201 V4 in 1994-1995 (LISC Chapter 10/Australia).
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ROSS PAINE, LISC P.P
Spyros Seremidis – Chairperson (President 2020-2021) Peter Brandenburg – 1st vice President & Webmaster David McKirdy - Secretary / Treasurer Micha Gelber Executive Director
Nominating Committee
The Committee consists of the last three Presidents.The Nominating Committee prepares the list of candidates for the year 2021-2022. Nominations are always welcome. David Jones – Chairperson Ted Henebery Dianna Lim Spyros Seremidis
Membership & Extension Committee
The Committee is responsible for recruiting new members, the establishment of new Chapters as well as the administration and up keep of the database and collection of dues. David McKirdy – Secretary-Treasurer Peter Brandenburg - Webmaster Diana Lim Chapters Far East 12, 16, 17, 19, 21, 22, 23. Ivan Wong – Hong Kong Ted Henebery – Australia, New Zealand Doug Schembs – USA Joel Liechtmaneger – France etc. Spyros Seremidis - Chapter 20 Greece Cyprus Antonio Marte - Italy Jan Pieter Bal – Benelux
Convention Committee Montreal
The Committee deals with all matters pertaining to the organization of the booth, contacts with Oak Brook the preparation of cachets, pins, stamps and sales. Spyros Seremidis - Chairperson Dianna Lim – PIP David McKirdy – Secretary/Treasurer Alain-Pierre Schmid – Pin & Cover
Stamp Quality and Verification Committee – NIS
The task of this Committee is verification of new stamp issues and collectables in accordance with Policy Manual PS 0017. Micha Gelber – Chairperson Thierry de Wandeleir Ton van Vliet – ROS (Rotary)
Editorial Committee
Spyros Seremidis - Editor Philatelist George Chrissovitsianos Graphic Designer Peter Brandenburg - Webmaster
Audit Committee
To check the financial report as presented by the Treasurer before the Board Meeting. Ted Henebery – Chairperson David Jones Spyros Seremidis Emilianos Chrysopoulos
Constitution & Policy Committee
The Committee reviews the Constitution and Policy Manual, proposing and presenting amendments to the Board and AGM. Spyros Seremidis – Chairperson Ted Henebery Howard Leverson David McKirdy – Secretary
LISC BOARD 2020-2021
President
LISC BOARD 2020-2021
Lion Spyros Seremidis (Greece) seremidis@gmail.com
1st Vice President
Lion Peter Brandenburg (The Netherlands) brandenburgp@gmail.com
2nd Vice President
Lion Alain-Pierre Schmid (New Caledonia) japschmid@mls.nc
Ted Henebery Immediate Past President
Spyros Seremidis President 2020-2021
Peter Brandenburg 1st Vice President
Immediate Past President Lion Ted Henebery (Australia) ted@henebery.com.au
Secretary & Treasurer
Lion David McKirdy (United Kingdom) davidmckirdy@aol.com
Webmaster
Alain Pierre Schmid 2nd VicePresident
Lion Peter Brandenburg (The Netherlands) peter.brandenburg@gmail.com
David Mc Kirdy Secretary & Treasurer
DIRECTORS ONE YEAR
Directors 1 year
Lion Wong Chi Fai (Hong Kong - China) Lion Chai Ming Voon (Singapore)
Directors 2 years
Wong Chi Fai
Lion Soh Wee Boon (Singapore) Lion Frank Marcus (The Netherlands) Lion Danny Howard (Australia)
Alain Pierre Schmid
Chai Ming Voon
Danny Howard
Frank Marcus
Micha Gelber
David Jones
DIRECTORS TWO YEARS
Life Directors
Lion Howard Levenson (USA) Lion Micha Gelber (The Netherlands) Lion David Jones (Wales-UK)
Soh Wee Boon
Howard Levenson
LIFE DIRECTORS - EXISTING DIRECTORS
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LIONS INTERNATIONAL STAMP CLUB / Period ended 30 June 2020
AUCTIONS
This is the first new Auction published both in the Philatelist and the website.
The bidding system and sales conditions are shown herewith. - Lots up to € 10,00 – each bid is increased by € 1,00. - Lots between € 10,00 to € 50,00 each bid is increased by € 2,00. - Lots upwards from € 50,00 each bid is increased by € 5,00. - There will be a surcharge of 5% for handling and packaging for each lot. - Postage will be added separately, above € 100,00 by registered mail. Closing date: April 15, 2021.
MICHA GELBER-Chapter 7 Webshop Coordinator
liscnis@gmail.com
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Why we are members of LISC Dear LISC members I thought I would share with you my thoughts on why we are members of LISC and what we get for our 15 euros per year. Firstly, I am extremely impressed with the Catalogue and Encyclopaedia. When compared to Catalogues like Scots America or Stanley Gibbons Great Britain, when you go to their detail catalogue on sections of the world, they do not cover the level of details, we are fortunate to have because of the development of our Catalogue and Encyclopaedia that Ton van Vliet has produced for both LISC and Rotary. When deciding what will be our area of interest in stamps, I have chosen to do: 1. Lions stamps including the printing process like colour proofs, deluxe sheets, signed designer proofs,Imperf., Private issue. 2. Blindness, including anniversaries of Helen Keller. 3. On Leprosy Dr G.Hansen discovery of the Leprosy Bacillus. Raoul Follereau known as the father of Lepers. So there are many choices to be made and this is only possible by going through our International Stamp Catalogue. Micha over the past 20 years, not only has been able to kept within LISC lots of rare LISC stamps and
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Philatelic material, he has added to it with the previous (NIS ) New Issue Service. Many of the items Micha offers most of this material not only can’t be found on the world internet, sometimes when it is available the prices are not affordable. He will always surprise you, what he has available and when a member leaves this world, you see material of very few pieces comes up for sale. I have been fortunate to get one of 2 known sets of perforated sets of stamps from Chad, known to exist in world. So you can see the necessity of LISC to keep this important material available to our 200 plus membership. The reason also, why you would want to belong to LISC. Let your other Lions members know about us. Our stamp project in Australia of Chapter 10 allows us regularly able to promote LISC.
TED HENEBERY, Im. Past President
LISC Membership Management & Auto-invoicing System Managing hundreds of members & its membership dues across the globe without a backend system has always been a challenge. Indeed, it is the same challenge that Lions International Stamp Club (LISC) has faced in the recently years as more senior members are retiring from the organizations. The management of LISC understands and recognizes the need for a software solution that will help to ease such challenges. In April 2020, under the leadership of 2019/2020 President Ted Henebery, he initiated a software development project that will simplify and assist in the overall management of members & its collection of annual membership dues. With the continued support of 2020/21 President Spyros Seremidis, the project was able to continue its development smoothly. The project is to be completed in 2 phases. Phase 1 is the backend system which stores the members’ record, the auto generated invoicing & the emailing capability. Phase 2 which will be rolled out by 1st Quarter of 2021 will focus on the mobile applications that will be accessible by all members. Phase 1 was completed on August 2020 and has started the first round of auto-invoicing on 1st November 2020. The auto-invoicing system which will run in July of each calendar year is responsible for creating the respective Chapter’s invoice based on the number of ACTIVE members in each chapters and email the PDF formatted nvoice document out to the respective Chapter’s key contact personnel (President, Secretary and Treasurer). Phase 2 which is currently running will create a mobile interface for Chapter key personnel & members to access their membership information. The mobile interface enables Chapters to add, remove or update their own Chapter members. The mobile interface can be further expanded to provide more membercentric information in the coming future. As it is the first membership system developed for LISC, feedback will be gathered to help further enhanced this IT system to better serve all the members.
ERIC KOH, Singapore
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As mentioned in the previous issue of the “Philatelist” not much is to be expected in the near future of new Lions stamp issues. Due to the dwindling and decrease of NIS subscribers and the non-issues Chapter 7 that operated the NIS for LISC has discontinued this activity. Some of the subscribers still have a deposit of € 50,00 that has to be refunded. In case you want a refund please contact Micha Gelber at liscnis@gmail.com advising where to refund the deposit. Most of the deposits have already been refunded or applied for a 3 year period payment of dues. The Web shop will still be an activity of Chapter 7 having accumulated in the course of the last 15-20 years considerable quantities of stamps in all its forms like imperforated, gutter pairs, sheetlets, combination sheets, souvenir sheets, deluxe sheets etc. Material is also sold in smaller or larger basic collections. In the future we shall organize new auctions that will be shown on the Website. You can also file your missing items and in many cases we shall be able to find some of your missing stamps or covers. You can send your wishes to: Micha Gelber – liscnis@gmail.com AUCTION: Complete set of 30 LISC pins from 1989 - 2018. Starting price € 300,00 + postage. Send your bids to: liscnis@gmail.com.
RS E B M E M C NEW LIS r8
apte he / Italy Ch c ia g a tr e D o Enric r1 / USA Chapte in rr e P rd 20 a h Ric rus Chapter yp C / s ti ia n o r 20 Michael V reece Chapte G / is d ia r 20 il s a Stathis V reece Chapte G / s o n ia ts vi so George Chris
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