Jim Taylor (UK)

I met my friend Charles Chappell in January 1973 who got me interested in the hobby, and I joined the British Matchbox Label and Booklet Society at the Bonnington Hotel in London.

Since joining the Society I have done many matchbox memorabilia exhibitions, including one at the Mars Master Foods factory in 2009 where they were celebrating 40 years in Kings Lynn. At the Great Yarmouth Phillumeny Show I won the Gold and Silver awards, and I like to use my hobby to raise funds for Charities.

I collect matchboxes from all over the world, specialising in “Foreign Made” and “Threes“. I collect boxes and labels including dozen and gross packets, tens and 100 wrapper labels, and have accumulated over 36,000 items so far.

I really enjoy being a member of the Society. After Mrs Irene Harris died I continued her work of listing the Latest Issues in the Match Label News to help other collectors, showing what is new in the UK and other countries of the world, and I spent many hours walking to find these boxes and labels in the shops. In 2016 I was thrilled to be awarded the Tony Gallaher Memorial Award for these articles.

My passion is telling other people about my hobby, and I love showing my collection at Exhibitions. I have also done 34 talks on the hobby, and have appeared on Radio Norfolk on three sperate occasions over the years.

Although I don’t own a computer I am delighted to be part of the Society’s first On-line Exhibition.

Click here to return to the Exhibition Catalogue.