Annette Parry is an avid stamp collector. Photo / David Haxton
Lots of people have hobbies such as gardening, cooking, tramping, knitting and so on.
Annette Parry, from Waikanae Beach, collects stamps.
Parry, who is chairwoman of the Kapiti Philatelic Society, started collecting stamps when she was a child before returning to the hobby in her 40s.
Philatelic refers to stamps although modern stamp collecting has branched out to include postcards, autographs or simply stuff that's related to your topic of interest.
Parry, who was the Mastermind New Zealand winner in 1991 with her specialist subject Richard III, has a wide ranging collection with three areas of special interest — Richard III, space and bats.
Richard III is understandable but bats?
"They're cute," she enthuses.
"And because they [stamps] are quite attractive as a rule, there's about 40 to 50 countries that have released bat stamps."
She hopes NZ Post will release stamps featuring New Zealand bats.
"We've suggested it to them for several years and every time they come and talk to the club they sort of hide when they see me."
And space?
"I was born in the 60s."
Parry has lots of various space stamps as well as a few autographs too.
One of them is from Sir William Pickering, a New Zealand-born rocket scientist who was the director of California's Jet Propulsion Laboratory from 1954 to 1976.
Pickering, who has appeared on a New Zealand stamp, was involved in setting up the unmanned space missions which included getting close-up images of the moon's surface which helped with the Apollo 11 moon landing.
She has the autograph of Steve Bales who was the guidance officer during the Apollo 11 lunar landing.
And has the signature of Russian cosmonaut Alexi Leonov - the first person to walk in space.
Obtaining the signatures involved writing a letter to each person explaining her hobby.
Creating decorative page layouts to highlight stamps, autographs or postcards was an important factor.
"You can really personalise it and create a collection that means something to you.
"A friend of mine at work inherited her mother's stamp collection up to about 1985.
"I said she didn't have to complete it as a New Zealand collection, she could look at the stamps and see what interested her.
"She loves gardening and crafts so there's various stamps about that that she could work on.
"The fun is getting them out and telling a story."
Some people's collections never ceased to amaze.
"We had a chap who talked about the travels of Pope John Paul which was fascinating.
"It was about all the places the Pope had been to but shown through stamps.
"It was a labour of love for him."
Parry encouraged people to get involved in modern stamp collecting.
"It's a lovely hobby which everyone, older or younger, can do."
The club was looking forward to hosting John Mowbray, from Mowbray Collectables, in Ōtaki.
"He is bringing along items of interest for his upcoming international auction.
"It will be very unusual special items."
The public is invited to attend the presentation which will also be a good opportunity to find out a bit more about the society and modern stamp collecting.
Mowbray's keenly anticipated presentation will be in the Waikanae Presbyterian Church hall on Tuesday August 18 from 7.30pm.
