A set of two stamps in this year’s Europa issue, marking the centenary year of the Scout Movement, is being issued by the Philatelic Bureau of Maltapost plc on Wednesday. The stamps, which have been designed by Mark Anthony Vella, are offset printed by Printex Limited of Qormi on Maltese Crosses watermarked paper.

The stamps, with face values in dual denominations of 16c/e0.37 and 51c/e1.19, are 3.5mm x 3.5mm in size, with a perforation of 14.28x14.28. The stamps are available in sheets of 10 stamps, and the 16c/e0.37 stamp will also be available in booklet form containing five stamps.

The Scout Association of Malta has the distinction of having started in 1908 as the first overseas branch of the British Boy Scouts Association, which was formally set up that year to consolidate the ever-expanding movement which had seen its inception with an experimental camp organised by Major-General Sir Robert Baden-Powell on Brownsea Island, near Poole in Dorset, England.

The 16c/e0.37 stamp depicts the Chief Scout of the World, Lord Baden-Powell, with District Commissioner (later Island Commissioner) Captain J.V. Abela in 1937 on his last of several visits to Malta, when he was 80 years old.

The 51c/e1.19 stamp shows the Malta contingent marching past Queen Elisabeth II at the Golden Jubilee Jamboree near Birmingham, England, in 1957 to mark the centenary of the birth of Baden-Powell and 50 years of the movement.

The logos on the stamps show the emblem of the Scout Association of Malta, of the World Organisation of the Scout Movement and the Centenary Badge adopted by the international membership.

The set will be available from all Maltapost branches in Malta and Gozo and from the Philatelic Bureau, as a First Day cover, in mint or cancelled format, and as a Souvenir folder and Presentation Pack. Additional details regarding this and forthcoming issues can be obtained from the Philatelic Bureau (tel.: 2596-1747; email: [email protected]), or from the Maltapost website: www.

maltapost.com.