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ANNOUNCEMENT
With great regret we announce the death of our Patron Brian Sole FRPSL.
Throughout his philatelic career Brian (as he was always known) was involved in supporting philately in general and thematic philately in particular. His general interests ranged from being Secretary of Kingston Upon Thames Philatelic Society and President of the Federation of Surrey Philatelic Societies; regular attendance at the Philatelic Congress of Great Britain, and where he was awarded the Congress Medal in 2002; through to attending overseas Internationals, including Genova ’92 where he was UK Commissioner and PhilaNippon (Japan) in 2001 and 2002. He was an elected Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society of London and for several years was on its “Meet and Greet” team in its previous premises.
Many thematic collectors choose a subject in which they have an existing interest, and Brian was no exception. In the 1970s he started collecting material on cycling, having been a keen cyclist in earlier days, and soon became a high-level exhibitor. His expertise in thematic philately was demonstrated by his superb exhibit “Go by Cycle!” which was awarded a Gold medal at Singapore in 2002. Perhaps not surprisingly he was President of the Bicycle Stamp Club from 2002 to 2016.He displayed his exhibit all over the country and shared his expertise in exhibiting through talks and workshops, where his encouragement and enthusiasm inspired many just starting out on the path to exhibiting. His knowledge led to being a qualified judge in both Thematic Philately and Open Philately in the UK and in Thematic Philately at FEPA events in Europe. His desire to promote understanding of thematic philately led him (jointly with the late Franceska Rapkin) to translate into English - from the original Dutch - a major book Handbook of Thematic Philately by Pim van den Bold, published in 1994.
One of his biggest commitments was to the British Thematic Association (BTA), serving as Secretary from its foundation in 1984 to 1995, at which point he took on the Chairmanship for four years and then became President in 2003. While President he oversaw a display by the BTA at the RPSL (2005) which featured 28 displays including his own. When the BTA again displayed to the Royal in 2024 Brian’s display featured. Finally retiring from the Committee in 2008, he took on the role of Patron.
He worked tirelessly for the Association in all this time. He regularly staffed BTA tables at regional and national events, and was for many years the organiser of the BTA’s involvement in Thematica, held annually in London, where he organised the Inter-Federation Thematic Competition and the two BTA competitions, as well as organising the BTA stand at the event. When Thematica was in danger of closing due to lack of financial support Brian organised “Friends of Thematica” a fundraising group to keep the event going. He was regularly a member of the British team at Eurothema, a biennial thematic event held in different European countries; and in 2008 was one of the organisers, and the UK judge, at Eurothema when the BTA staged the event in London.
His interests did not end there. His career in banking led to involvement with the Insurance and Banking Philatelic Society. He had a fine collection of Guernsey from World War II onwards. He enjoyed postcard collecting, and in 2021 won a Gold medal at Autumn Stampex in the Picture Postcard Class with “Cycle Past”. He maintained his displaying programming, showing “Go by Cycle” to the National Philatelic Society in 2023. And only two years ago he published a book “A reminder of the British Greetings Telegram Service” a detailed catalogue of every issue.
Brian will be remembered for his hard work, his enthusiasm, someone whose great diplomatic skills could settle numerous contentious situations and questions, but perhaps more than anything for the kindness and interest he showed to every person who ever approached him about philately.
Click here for full details of our next Residential Weekend, to be held at Oxford from 17th to 19th April 2026.
Results of our annual one-page competition have been announced. Click here for a report.
Welcome
The British Thematic Association is a national organisation composed of and supporting theme based collectors and exhibitors from across the UK, Europe and the world. We are affiliated with the Association of British Philatelic Societies and the American Topical Association.
Our aim is to give support to those wishing to embark on or expand a theme-based collection, whether it consists purely of stamps or postcards, or includes a wide range of additional material including postal history, postmarks and ephemera.
On this site you will find news from the BTA, updates about events and exhibitions, useful information about theme based collecting and a whole lot more. Please bookmark the site or get in touch to become a member of the Association.
