FRANCE. ATM issue 3rd Assemblée Générale de PHILAPOSTEL in La Londe les Maures

After Murol, in 2014, the 63rd PHILAPOSTEL general assembly was held on May 29th & 30th 2015, in La Londe les Maures, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. The convention brought together some 150 representatives of the 27 PHILAPOSTEL associations throughout the country.

PHILAPOSTEL again organized its annual meeting in one of the Azuréva resorts.
Although these holiday villages are often found in somewhat out-of-the-way places, outside urban areas and with difficult access by public transport, the truth is that they are a good choice for these types of assemblies. These holiday centres offer very suitable services and facilities, with the possibility of meals and accommodation for delegates, many of whom travel with their partners. There is also space for banquets, meetings, exhibitions and other scheduled activities.
In any case, unlike the majority of philatelic events, which are made to attract the maximum number of collectors, everything related to PHILAPOSTEL assemblies is designed by and for congress members, and it is extremely rare to see other visitors ... except those interested in LISA postage labels !

During the assembly at La Londe, the organization arranged a mail art competition, the 'Coups de coeur' exhibition, in which the participants showed a particularly significant postal or philatelic item from his/her collection, and a regional competitive philatelic championship. It is worth mentioning the interesting collection 'Les timbres de distributeur en France depuis 1969' (right image), which displays the history and evolution of LISA issues, in France, since its beginning until today.

(Read the articles about the previous assemblies, also with special ATM issues- Raedersheim in 2009, published in VARIABLE 13, Trégunc in 2011 - VARIABLE 21, Arêches in 2012 - VARIABLE 25, Bussang in 2013 - VARIABLE 29, and Murol in 2014 - VARIABLE 33).

Again in 2015, Phil@poste granted to PHILAPOSTEL the issue of the sixth vignette LISA for its annual meeting. The new ATM is another delicate work by Noëlle Le Guillouzic, also the author of the designs for Timbres Passion 2012 (see article and VARIABLE 27), and the PHILAPOSTEL assembly in Murol, in 2014 (article and VARIABLE 33).

The composition features, at the left, the Pointe de l'Estagnol, near La Londe (see maximum cards), and a landscape with vegetation of the area, pines and mimosas, at the right. In the background, there is an recalling of the Plage du Pellegrin, also in La Londe les Maures.
The total production run was 30,000 labels.

The following images show the two watercolors painted by the artist during the preparation of this issue. The first one was used for the vignette LISA, while the second was partly used for a personalized stamp.

	Far from the crowded and stressing Paris events, the assembly allowed closer contact with Noëlle Le Guillouzic, who welcomed all visitors who were interested in her work.

For the first time in the PHILAPOSTEL assemblies, La Poste did not arrange any temporary post office, apparently due to lack of staff. The special postmark was on a small table next to the entrance to the bar, where a PHILAPOSTEL member sold the usual assembly souvenirs.

	PHILAPOSTEL produced an illustrated cover (left) and a postcard, as well as two personalized stamps.

To make the issue of the vignettes possible, two IER LISA 2 postal kiosks, removed from nearby post offices, were temporarily installed, on Thursday 28th, also in the bar of the holiday village (picture).
With the machines virtually abandoned to their own fate, and without the usual temporary post office, visitors interested in the special stamps had many problems using the postal kiosks. The technician who installed the machines failed to enable payment by credit card, and no one bothered to install a coin change machine or provide the necessary coins for those interested in purchasing stamps. In addition, during the first day, the machines had no coins inside to give the necessary change.

Although the issue was scheduled for 29th and 30th, and only at the holidays resort, the ATM issue was already available on 28th in both machines, and also in the IER LISA 2 postal kiosk in service in the La Londe les Maures post office.

During the assembly, the minimum face value programmed in both kiosks was 0.39 EUR. In addition, the machines were not connected to the La Poste network, so it was not possible to obtain ATMs with the 'LETTRE SUIVIE' indicators.
	Test imprint label

Inland economic mail - EC ECOPLI	Inland priority mail (J+2) - LV LETTRE VERTE

Inland priority mail (J+1) - LP LETTRE PRIORITAIRE	International priority mail IP LETTRE PRIORITAIRE INTERNATIONALE

	Franking complement for an inland economic mail COMPLEMENT D'AFFRANCHISSEMENT ECOPLI

After the convention, both postal kiosks were reinstalled in their original post offices, in La Londe les Maures and Le Lavandou, where they continued using rolls of labels with the special design, over the coming weeks. Re-connected to the postal network, it was possible to obtain ATMs with the 'LETTRE SUIVIE' indicators for national and international mail and its corresponding bar code labels.


Inland / Domestic tracked mail - LV LETTRE SUIVIE	Bar code label associated to the left stamp