Dear friends,

Half a year has passed since my election as FISA President in the summer of 2022. The most important task I considered was to inform the President of FIP, Mr. Prakob Chirakiti, about the activities of FISA, noting that the assessment of aerophilatelic exhibits should be distinguished from Astrophilatelic exhibits. It should be reminded here again that those where space research is treated thematically cannot be considered Astrophilatelic exhibits.

The rules for Astrophilatelic exhibits must be strictly adhered to when processing an Astrophilatelic exhibit.

In the field of astrophilately, there are currently two real experts - jurors - namely Stefan Bruylants and a colleague Igor Rodin, and after the European exhibition in Lilleberc in autumn 2022, the FEPA jurors Mr. Julius Cacka for the Astrophilatelic class and Mr. Petr Fencl for the thematic class with a focus on the space. The colleague Fencl is also an important Czech astrophilatelist.

This will increase the number of jurors capable to evaluate astrophilatelic exhibits at European exhibitions.

According to my information, two world exhibitions are prepared for 2023. The first one is 23.-28.5.2023 - in Essen (IBRA2023), where the jury has already been appointed - there are three jurors for the aerophilately class. (I'm one of them). The second 11.-15.8.2023 - Taipei, Taiwan, I don't have any information about this exhibition yet, i.e. if there will be an aero and astrophilately class and how many jurors will judge these classes.

Literature is needed for collecting. This year I got my hands on Hans Weder's excellent publication, Statbereit (the development of scheduled air transport in Switzerland 1919-1939), which was published in 2019. It is perfectly documented and mainly contains several beautiful illustrations on chalk paper. At the same time, it was brought to my attention that Mr. Ken Sanford published Air crash mail of the World (Incorporating "Recovered mail" by Heni Nierinck). This publication was published in 2022 and can be reached at Ken Sanford, 613 Championship Dr., Oxford, CT - USA 06478-3128. Make checks payable to American Air Mail Society, or PayPal to kaerophil@gmail.com and add US1.60. Price: to the USA - US 32.00, To all other countries - US 34.00 (postage included).

In 2022, at the European exhibition in Liberec, an award for the promotion of astrophilately "The FEPA Certificate of appreciation 2021" was presented to Society OS Kosmos, under the Union of Czech philatelist.

I would appreciate it if you could keep me informed of how your members' exhibits have been evaluated at the various shows so that we can get an idea of what areas are of interest to both aero and astrophilatelists.

In case there is any new essential information, I will of course contact you and inform all collectors. I would like you to send me information about new events that you organize as clubs, whether any publications in the field of aerophilately and astrophilately have been published. I have a fairly decent overview of the events in Eastern Europe and Germany, but I'm lacking in other parts. You can inform me at my postal address: MUDr. Bedrich Helm, P.O.B. 1, 339 02 Klatovy 2, Czech Republic, or to the e-mail address: helm.beda1@seznam.cz. I am capable of direct communication in English, but I have an excellent secretary who speaks English well. I can speak German, Russian and Spanish.

Thank you for the existing cooperation, and I look forward to its improvement.

Sincere greetings to all

MUDr. Bedřich Helm