Philatelists don’t come more distinguished than Bill Hedley, the President of the Federation of European Philatelic Associations. But for all that, he was drawn into philately in the same way as many of Stamp Collector’s readers. Like many of his generation, Bill collected stamps from the age of six and was encouraged to continue it at school. ‘It was a wonderful way of discovering the world,’ he says.
But rediscovering his passion for philately later in life was when Bill’s stellar trajectory in the stamp world began.
‘The album disappeared into a cupboard until my elder son was given an album and some stamps for Christmas in the mid-80s and – helping him to sort them out – I rediscovered my interest,’ he explains. ‘I then joined the excellent Royal Tunbridge Wells Philatelic Society and began to learn about the range of philately and how you could do virtually anything with it.’
Bill’s previous work as a historian meant that he was naturally attracted to postal history. ‘That has been my focal point ever since,’ he says. ‘My first step into organised philately was to join the committee of the local society, of which I first became Secretary and then President. I joined the Royal in 1998 and, after retiring, I began to work in the RPSL Archive which was a wonderful education in philatelic history.’
In Bill’s world, philately is much more valuable than a mere pastime. ‘I am allergic to the word “hobby”, because I think it devalues philately. We don’t usually talk about golf as a hobby – as my father used to say, “It’s
