Local Post : Steep Holm.

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Author : F R Holman   18th Sept 1980

Steep Holm Stamps

The first issue of local stamps from this small island in the Bristol Channel off Weston-super-Mare is to be made on 27th September 1980. The stamps will be available on the island for tourists to use on mail posted there which will be taken back to Weston-super-Mare by the island boat Ivanhoe to be transferred into the postal system. There will be four stamps - 12p for postcards and letters, 18p for parcels of up to lib, 30p for parcels up to 5lb and 40p for parcels above 5lb. The stamps designed by Anthony Pritchard depict - 12p a Victorian lithograph of c. 1840 showing the beach and the inn (now a ruin); 18p Kenneth Allsop (1920-1973); 30p zebra camouflage painted over the islands cliffs and searchlight posts -from an original war artists' painting of 1943; 40p the ferry boat Ivanhoe which will carry the mail to Weston.

Sets of mint stamps are available to collectors at £ 1 plus 30p postage and packing - this includes the 12p Steep Holm stamp which will be affixed to the envelope together with a 12p British postage stamp. Cheques and postal orders should be made payable to 'Kenneth Allsop Trust' and all orders should be sent to: Nigel Keegan Esq (Steep Holm stamps), 113 North Street, Martock, Somerset, TA12 6ER.