Castleside
County Durham, England

Started in 1988 by 1st Castleside BP Scouts officially serving Benfieldside, Blackfyne, Bradley, Bridgehill, Castleside, Consett, Crookhall, Delves, Grove, Leadgate, Medomsley, Moorside, Number One, Pont, Snows Green, Templetown, Villa Real & Watling with casual deliveries to Iveston, Knitsley Hurbuck & Lanchester outside the originally stated area. Joined in 1989 by 1st Blackhill BP Scouts, Consett Guide Commissioner & Consett Outdoor Pursuits Youth Club. Area extended to include Ebchester, Hamsterley & Knitsley. Joined by 1st New Shildon (All Saints) BP Scouts in 1990 serving the Shildon area. In 1991 joined by Stainsby Training Centre and the 1st Tanfield Lea BP Scouts (in the Stanley area of Derwentside) who handled collections & deliveries within Tanfield, Tanfield Lea & Tantobie. In 1992 1st Aycliffe BP Scouts joined, handling collections & deliveries within Newton Aycliffe. In 1993 Tanfield Lea dropped out and Tanfield, Tanfield Lea & Tantobie were no longer served by the post. Consett Outdoor Pursuits Youth Club also ceased delivery duties. 1994 saw the loss of 1st Aycliffe BP Scouts and the collections & deliveries within Newton Aycliffe, but also saw the joining of 1st Leadgate SA Scouts who took on the handling of collections and deliveries in Leadgate, Pont, Bradley, Watling & Lanchester. A variety of postmarks was used on first day covers, some of which had coloured descriptive sections stuck onto ordinary white envelopes.

Apparently from 2005 only the 1st Castleside BP Scouts continued with the service.

1st Leadgate Scouts are part of the Derwentside District in the Scout County of Durham, the other units mentioned are members of the Baden-Powell Scouts.

1988 (December 1st)

Type 1, 38x25mm, designed by ? and printed by Ramsden Williams Stationery, Consett on sheets of 36 TacTik labels (6 rows of 6), on an imperforate backing sheet. A first day cover was produced with a green patch on a plain white envelope.

1989 (November 25th)

Type 2, 38x25mm, designed by ? and printed by Ramsden Williams Stationery, Consett on sheets of 36 TacTik labels (6 rows of 6), on an imperforate backing sheet. A first day cover was produced with a blue patch on a plain white envelope.

1990 (November 25th)

Type 3, 38x25mm, designed by ? and printed by Ramsden Williams Stationery, Consett on sheets of 36 TacTik labels (6 rows of 6), on an imperforate backing sheet. A first day cover was produced with a pink patch on a plain white envelope.

1991 (November 25th)

Type 4, 38x25mm, designed by ? and printed by Ramsden Williams Stationery, Consett on sheets of 36 TacTik labels (6 rows of 6), on an imperforate backing sheet. At least four first day covers were produced, one with a pink patch on a plain white envelope, the other three with a yellow patch .

1992 (November 25th)

Type 5, 38x25mm, designed by ? and printed by Ramsden Williams Stationery, Consett on sheets of 36 TacTik labels (6 rows of 6), on an imperforate backing sheet. At least five first day covers were produced each with a white patch on a plain white envelope.

1993 (November 25th)

Type 6, 38x25mm, designed by ? and printed by Ramsden Williams Stationery, Consett on sheets of 36 TacTik labels (6 rows of 6), on an imperforate backing sheet. At least four first day covers were produced each with a white patch on a plain white envelope.

1994 (November 25th)

Types 7 to 12, 38x25mm, spare labels from 1988-1993 overprinted by Ramsden Williams Stationery, Consett on sheets of 36 TacTik labels (6 rows of 6), on an imperforate backing sheet. Quantity shown in the statistics represents the number overprinted, not new stamp production. First day covers were produced bearing all six stamps with a white patch on a plain white envelope, also some were produced bearing only a single stamp.

1995 (November 25th)

Type 13, 38x25mm, designed by ? and printed by Ramsden Williams Stationery, Consett on sheets of 36 TacTik labels (6 rows of 6), on an imperforate backing sheet. At least four first day covers were produced each with a white patch on a plain white envelope.

1996 (November 25th)

Type 14, 38x25mm, designed by ? and printed by Ramsden Williams Stationery, Consett on sheets of 36 TacTik labels (6 rows of 6), on an imperforate backing sheet. At least three first day covers were produced each with a white patch on a plain white envelope.

1997 (November 25th)

Type 15, 38x25mm, designed by ? and printed by Ramsden Williams Stationery, Consett on sheets of 36 TacTik labels (6 rows of 6), on an imperforate backing sheet. At least three first day covers were produced on specially designed envelopes.

1998 (November 25th)

Type 16, 38x25mm, designed by ? and printed by Ramsden Williams Stationery, Consett on sheets of 36 TacTik labels (6 rows of 6), on an imperforate backing sheet. At least two first day covers were produced on specially designed envelopes.

1999 (November 25th)

Type 17, 38x25mm, designed by ? and printed by Ramsden Williams Stationery, Consett on sheets of 36 TacTik labels (6 rows of 6), on an imperforate backing sheet. At least two first day covers were produced on specially designed envelopes.

2000 (November 25th)

Types 18 to 22, 38x25mm, spare labels from 1995-1999 overprinted by Ramsden Williams Stationery, Consett on sheets of 36 TacTik labels (6 rows of 6), on an imperforate backing sheet. Quantity shown in the statistics represents the number overprinted, not new stamp production. At least two first day covers were produced on specially designed envelopes, some others were produced with only a single stamp.

2001 (November 25th)

Type 23, 40x20mm, designed by ? and printed by contract pp Ramsden Williams Stationery in smaller format, sheet size still 36 (9 rows of 4), as RWS was moving to Edmundbyers, near Consett under style of 'Derwentia', Consett on an imperforate backing sheet. At least two first day covers were produced on specially designed envelopes.

2002 (November 25th)

Type 24, 40x20mm, designed by ? and printed by contract pp Ramsden Williams Stationery in sheets of 36 (9 rows of 4). At least two first day covers were produced on specially designed envelopes.

2003 (November 25th)

Type 25, 40x20mm, designed by ? and printed by contract pp Ramsden Williams Stationery in sheets of 36 (9 rows of 4). A first day cover was produced on specially designed envelopes.

2004 (November 25th)

Type 26, 40x20mm, designed by ? and printed by contract pp Ramsden Williams Stationery in sheets of 36 (9 rows of 4). A first day cover was produced on specially designed envelopes.

Apparently from 2005 only the 1st Castleside BP Scouts continued with the service. Only the Castleside cancel has been seen on the following issue.

2005 (November 25th)

Types 27 to 31, 40x20mm, designed by ? and printed by contract pp Ramsden Williams Stationery in sheets of 36 (9 rows of 4). A first day cover was produced on specially designed envelopes. These stamps are the issues of 2001-2004 (plus a previously unissued yellow one) overprinted with CASTLESIDE SCOUT POST.

Cancellations

Type P1 - Aycliffe postmark 1 - used on FDCs 1992, 1996 & 1997.

Type P2 - Aycliffe postmark 2 -used on FDCs 1993 & 1995.

Type P3 - Aycliffe postmark 3 - used on ordinary mail 1995.

Type P4 - Castleside postmark 1 - used on FDCs in 1988.

Type P5 - Castleside postmark 2 - 43mm wide - used on FDCs and ordinary mail 1989/90.

Type P6 - Castleside postmark 3 - 43mm wide - used on FDCs and ordinary mail 1991 onwards.

Type P7 - New Shildon postmark 1 - used on ?.

Type P8 - New Shildon postmark 2 - used on ?.

Type P9 - New Shildon postmark 3 - used on ?.

Type P10 - Stainsby postmark 1 - used on ?.

Type P11 - Stainsby postmark 2 - used on all mail & FDCs 1993 onwards.

Type P12 - Tanfield Lea postmark - used on ?.

Type P13 - Tyneside postmark - used on ?.

Type P14 - Datestamp - used on ?.

Type P15 - Circle - used on ?.

Type P16 - Castleside postmark 4 - 41mm wide - used on ordinary mail 2004.

Type P17 - Castleside postmark 5 - 41mm wide - used on ordinary mail 2004.

Statistics

Year	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990
Start	None	None	None	None	None	None	None	Dec 1	Nov 25	Nov 25
Printed	None	None	None	None	None	None	None	7,200	7,200	7,200
Carried	None	None	None	None	None	None	None	3,500	4,000	4,500
Year	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
Start	Nov 25	Nov 25	Nov 25	Nov 25	Nov 25	Nov 25	Nov 25	Nov 25	Nov 25	Nov 25
Printed	7,200	7,200	7,200	9,834	.	.	.	.	.	.
Carried	5,000	5,000	5,900	6,500	.	.	.	.	.	.
Year	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Start	Nov 25	Nov 25	Nov 25	Nov 25	Nov 25	None	None	None	None	None
Printed	.	.	.	.	.	None	None	None	None	None
Carried	.	.	.	.	.	None	None	None	None	None