Stamp collectors in Great Yarmouth have laid down the gauntlet to other clubs across the country in a bid to get into the record books. Club secretary Gerry Mobbs is aiming to mount over 30 displays of stamps at its monthly meeting at Gorleston Library on Monday and is asking other clubs if they can do any better.

Stamp collectors in Great Yarmouth have laid down the gauntlet to other clubs across the country in a bid to get into the record books.

Club secretary Gerry Mobbs is aiming to mount over 30 displays of stamps at its monthly meeting at Gorleston Library on Monday and is asking other clubs if they can do any better.

Although he's not sure a record exists to be broken Mr Mobbs, who gives talks far and wide, is keen to raise the profile of stamp collecting and shrug off its “nerdy” image as a sort of philatelic evangelist.

Mr Mobbs, 63, from Ormesby St Margaret, said that what started as a boyhood hobby had become a life-long passion fuelled by the thrill of the chase or the buzz of an unexpected find.

The club has 44 members aged between 38 to 93 who meet every two week. Mr Mobbs said stamp collecting was an ideal hobby limited only by cost that could be picked up and left at any time without the need to buy and equipment.

He specialises in stamps from Sierra Leone some of which change hands for up to �33,000. He said the commotion over Penny Blacks was often misplaced with many selling for just �35 and only the very rarest worth more. Stamp collecting he added was an excellent learning tool especially in history and geography, helping to fire young imaginations.

The effort is at Gorleston Library at 7.30pm on Monday at 7.30pm. For more information call Mr Mobbs on 01493 730619.