Pensioner’s hobbies give him purpose

GLENWOOD philatelist Roy Wood has fed his passion for stamp collecting for almost 85 years.

Roy, (95), said when he was 10 years old a friend who was a stamp collector introduced him to the hobby and sparked his interest. “I got hold of any stamp I could and put them in a box to look at later. I then forgot about this for a while and when I was given an album as a present, I got really interested in collecting stamps and storing them in the album. As time went on, I started filling the album,” he said.

Roy said he decided that if he had to have a hobby, it should not cost money, so stamp collecting was the perfect choice.

“I then got together with other children and we built up our collections by swapping stamps with each other. I am now 95 years old and have quite a collection which are in albums,” he said.

Although the stamps he has aren’t really valuable, Roy said his most valued album was one of once-off stamps of the world tour of a passenger liner called The France which toured from 4 January 1974 to 3 April 1974. “People went on tour and an envelope was stamped at every port with the country stamp. A friend sent these to me. One of my albums of South African stamps also goes way back,” he said.

Roy is a member of the Highway Philatelic Society, whose members he said have been very good to him. “We have learned from each other by doing stamp displays at the club. I enjoy doing displays and talking about them. My stamps have also been part of an exhibit in Cape Town and Durban which was well received,” he said.

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However, he says he is saddened by the fact that the club was not growing and encouraged people to join.

“People say that stamps are dying out because of emails, but they will never really stop being produced as some people don’t have computer facilities,” he said.

Roy has also taken his love for collecting to another level, and has put together a file on Durban’s history, using picture postcards he received over the years.

“The post cards in the file go back many years. Along with the cards, I researched history from sources to put together the file. I don’t have internet, but have found out a lot of information which applies to each card. It has always given me great pleasure doing this hobby and I have learnt a lot of history and geography while doing research,” he said.

Creativity is Roy’s thing. He is a keen crafter and has in recent years begun making clocks out of LPs, plastic plates and CDs, which he decorates with apicture of the customer’s choice. He encourages the community to support this project. and can be contacted on 031 205 1914.

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