A brief history of WASC

The origins of our group go back to May 1950. At the 32nd Philatelic Congress of Great Britain in Tunbridge Wells, several study circles were convened, one of which was for those interested in Gambia. This meeting took place at 8 p.m. on the 18th of May under the leadership of Mr. R.E.R. Dalwick and included, among others, Alfred Charlton and Jim Whitfield. This led to the formation of a regular study group called The Gambia Study Circle to provide a forum for the discussion of Gambia postal matters and exchange of information. One result of this was the publication in 1953 of The Gambia by R.E.R. Dalwick.

In 1952 the chairman was Jim Whitfield and in 1954 it was the turn of Major McConaghy. At this stage it was resolved to extend the interests of the Circle to include The Gold Coast and Sierra Leone and the official title became The Gambia, Gold Coast and Sierra Leone Study Circle. By 1956, the membership had doubled to 35 with Colin McCaig as chairman. In 1958, Dr. H.C.D. Miller became chairman and in 1959 the official title was changed once more to The British West Africa Study Circle and now included Nigeria. In 1972, the scope was re-defined to embrace all territories of the former British colonial administration in West Africa, together with the islands of St. Helena and Ascension, which had strong historical associations with the region, and also the British Postal Agencies on Madeira, Tenerife, St. Vincent (Cape Verde Islands) and Fernando Po. This brought the scope of the Circle in line with the former British West Africa as defined in the Robson Lowe Encyclopedia.

In September of 1983, the title of the Circle was amended yet again to reflect the extended interests of members, becoming The West Africa Study Circle with an interest in all territories in or associated with West Africa, and so it remains to date. In the early years, communication between members other than via meetings came in a series of informal bulletins circulated by specialist editors for development by members. However, by 1975 membership had risen to 106 and it was decided to issue a journal twice a year. The chosen title for this journal was Cameo and the design for the cover was based, appropriately enough, round a facsimile of the cameo issues of Gambia in the earliest period. The first issue was dated January 1975 but this design was subsequently modified to fill the entire cover size of 250mm x 205mm. Initially in black and white, a single colour cover was issued from January 1988, using a different colour each year. In January 1995, the format of the journal was altered to the now nearly universal size of A4 and the quality upgraded, although the frequency of issue remained at twice a year. It was then found that this new format did not comfortably accommodate the cameo design and a revised front was proposed featuring different illustrations for each issue. The first of the new layouts was issued in July 1996.

The journal has been edited by the present joint editors since 2003 when the former annual St Helena and Ascension Supplement was absorbed into Cameo, moving its frequency to thrice yearly with a total of about 180 pages per annum.

In 2025 WASC celebrated its 75th anniversary with events including a display at the Royal Philatelic Society.