Timbres Passion is the major biennial show in France which seeks to promote philately to the young, the ongoing challenge of philatelic associations and institutions in Western countries, … a struggle which appears to be already lost!
In France, the very influential Fédération Française des Associations Philatéliques (FFAP) organises this great event every two years. The FFAP brings together about 460 philatelic associations with a total of some 20,000 members, of which about 1,000 are young people.
Following the 2022 event in Moulins (see article, published in VARIABLE 67), Timbres Passion 2024 was held in Châlons-en-Champagne, in the north-eastern part of France, in the Marne department, organised in collaboration with the local philatelic association, the Association Philatélique Champenoise.
The event took place over the weekend of Friday October 25th to Sunday 27th in a 6000 m2 Hall at Le Capitole en Champagne, a huge exhibition and conference centre located in the south of the city.
Far beyond the primary objective of promoting youth philately, the organisers made a great effort to try to attract visitors, with philatelic and non-philatelic activities throughout the three days. Non-philatelic activities included exhibitions, introductory classes in chess, other games in collaboration with l’Echiquier Châlonnais, and circus-related activities run by the Charivari company.
In the philatelic section, the Timbres Passion brought together some 220 youth and adult collections, these included thematic, open class, maximophily, polar, … all participants in the various French philatelic championships. Spain participated as a guest country with several collections of youth philately. A highlight was the ‘Découverte Jeunesse’, a new category introduced by the FFAP in 2024 in which young collectors exhibit their collections for the first time in public.
The Châlons event was also attended by a few stamp dealers and a dozen or so specialist philatelic associations, who organised the various conferences.
Across the hall, the organisers displayed a beautiful collection of dioramas linking the world of circus and philately, ‘Le Grand Magic Circus Show’.
A short introduction to this great event, by way of arriving at our specialist area of collecting. For Timbres Passion 2024 Philaposte released a stamp and a commemorative vignette LISA.
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