He eventually built up a flourishing business as a philatelist and advertised in children's comics such as The Beano and Schoolfriend. Children could send for stamps on approval and would receive small albums and a free plastic magnifying glass. Later in 1958 Dennis built a wooden hut in the garden of his house, Kirkdene where around 20 workers, mainly women were employed. Other village ladies worked at home producing sheets of stamps to send out. The village post office too flourished as bags of mail from around the world passed through it.
Dennis also dealt in more valuable stamps and was very knowledgeable and well-respected. He scaled down his business as he grew older, but never really retired. He was a gentle man and a popular member of the community. His son, David, predeceased him.
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| Dennis Hanson in the garden at Kirkdene |
Hello the late Dennis Hanson was my grandad , we are all so proud of what he has achieved
ReplyDeleteI knew Dennis well and he was a good friend to the village. I am pleased that you have put your comment here. He was someone to be proud of.
ReplyDeleteHe really put Eastrington on the map. I've lived there for over 30 years and have met many people on my travels who recognize the village name from their, usually childhood, purchases of stamps. For example,I have a friend now aged 60 who is a gamekeeper at Balmoral but who grew up in Blair Atholl and bought stamps from Dennis with his pocket money. His childhood letters are possibly still in a box somewhere in Kirkdene.
ReplyDeleteWould this have anything to do with a company called Philatelic Services and universal Stamp Co of Eastrington would love to know.I can be contacted at paul.blackburn47@hotmail.com
ReplyDeleteI was a customer of Universal Stamp Company of Eastrington, Goole in the early 1960s, when I was at junior school. I fondly imaged a huge office block as the HQ of this worldwide business... an enlarged garden shed with 20 local ladies working on those books of approvals does not quite fit the bill! I bought stamps from countries that never quite existed; only last year did I discover where Maluku Selatan actually was! RIP Dennis Hanson.
ReplyDeleteI was in uganda .Africa .we use to send a shilling stamp and receive the approval and lots of stamps .amazing memories
ReplyDeleteFor some reason the memory of buying stamps as a teenager in the 1970s floated into my head earlier this evening. The only words I remembered were 'Eastrington, Goole'. And by adding the word 'stamps', Google got me here! I can even use Streetview to see the shed (I think it's the green one) from which my stamps were sent. The stamps are upstairs as I type, safe in albums. Wonderful that these links are still traceable; thank you :-)
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