The Home Of Thematic Collecting

INFORMATION UPDATES

Our Annual General Meeting will be held on 13th June 2026 as part of Swinpex, hosted by Swindon Philatelic Society. We will welcome guest speaker Barbara Borlase-Hendry showing Mining in Cornwall.

Applications are now open for our One-Frame Competition to be held in October. Click here for full details.

We have recently held a very successful residential weekend at Oxford. Click here for a report.

OBITUARY

MARGARET ISABEL MORRIS FRPSL 1931 - 2026

It is with great sadness that we report the death of Mrs Margaret Morris, who passed away peacefully on 27th April 2026. Margaret was a leading thematic collector on many aspects of astronomy, whose choice of subject, like that of many thematic collectors, was influenced by her career.  A collector for much of her life, she won various international awards for her competitive exhibits.

She played a pivotal role with the British Thematic Association as a founder member. When the Association was formed in 1984 she took on the role of Secretary and a year later took over the editorship of Themescene, which she fulfilled until 1992. She was President of the BTA from 1999 to 2003. In 2007 she took on the role of Patron of Eurothema when it was organised by the BTA and held in London. In 2012 she wrote a booklet “Introduction to Thematic Collecting” which was published as a CD-ROM by the BTA. In 2018 we were delighted to welcome her as a guest speaker at our 2018 residential weekend.

Margaret gave her time to various philatelic organisations. She was awarded the ABPS Congress Medal in 2001 and later served as the Chairperson of its Awards Committee. Closer to her home she was a past President of the Glasgow Caledonian Philatelic Society, and until her death President of the Glasgow Thematic Society.

She had a passion for collecting which she was happy to share, displaying to many stamp clubs across the UK. She was also keen to promote competitions and gave many workshops encouraging people to improve their exhibiting skills. She was a gentle individual, always ready to help others and help them to improve their own exhibits and displays, and she was always very supportive of new collectors.

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.