The Dieppe philatelic association wants to attract young people

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Philately is the passion of collecting stamps. The philatelic association of Dieppe (Seine-Maritime) held its general meeting on December 14, 2024. Meeting with Yves Begos, the president and Claude Dunet, the vice-president.

What assessment do you draw from the past year?

Claude Dunet : A good assessment. The association has 80 members and manages to maintain its membership. At the departmental level, it is more than in Le Havre or Rouen.

In 2024, we welcomed nine new members. At our general assembly, we still had 31 members present and 17 who gave power. This is a guarantee of satisfaction for our members.

What actions have you taken?

C. D.: In September 2023, we issued a stamp on Bruno Braquehais [photoreporter dieppois qui a couvert la Commune de Paris en 1871, NDLR]and in 2024, stamps for the sea festival, for the linen festival in Fontaine-le-Dun, the stamp festival, and at the end of August a stamp and a card for the 20^e edition of the Dieppe international chess festival.

In 2025, three events are scheduled. First for the stamp festival, March 8 and 9. The theme for 2024 was “Traveling in France”. This year the theme chosen by La Poste is “ Street arts– The Jugglers and acrobats”. We do not yet know the visuals of the stamps, but we will issue two local postcards, one from Michel Verneuil and the other from Nicolas Stérin.

The stamp festival is not only for philatelists, but also for the grand public. We will have the company of Saltimbanques de l’impossible who will perform on the square in front of the town hall with the municipal band. And we always host a departmental philately competition, judged by two jurors. In recent years, we have had more and more visitors coming to look at the collections.

The second major event is Alpine’s 70th anniversary, from May 30 to 1^is June. We will be present and are thinking about a stamp and postcards. And we will be at the linen festival, from July 4 to 6.

Yves Begos: And if all goes well, we will be at the French philately championship in Colmar, in Alsace.

What challenges are you facing today?

C. D.: Philately still works. But the difficulty we have, and that all associations experience, is that we are made up mainly of people over 60 years old.

We are notoriously lacking inyoung people. I think it’s because people are becoming more and more individualistic: they may be passionate about stamps, but they stay at home. At the stamp festival, we try to attract young people. We led fun workshops with CM1-CM 2 schoolchildren from the Richard-Simon school. This year, students will draw pictures of jugglers and acrobats. They will be exhibited at town hall and an election will determine the most beautiful.

Y. B.: Today, many children have never seen a letter with a beautiful stamp.

C. D.: Yet in France, we are lucky to have pretty stamps. The Post Office issues six to ten stamps per month.

What excites you about stamps?

Y. B.: It’s the pleasure of getting rich: stamps are a wonderful means of culture and require research to understand them.

A stamp is for conveying mail, but there is also everything it represents behind it.

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