Philapostel is clearly fond of the Atlantic coast. Seven of the meetings held over the last ten years have taken place at one of the holiday villages that “Azureva” operates along the west coast of France. The three most recent were held in Longeville-sur-Mer in 2024 (article), Arzon in 2025 (article), and Lacanau chosen once again for the 2026 assembly.
Philapostel had previously held its assemblies in Lacanau on three separate occasions: in 1995, 2000 and 2018.
The 74th assembly, organised in collaboration with Philapostel Aquitaine, took place over the weekend of June 18th to 21st 2026 at the “Azureva” holiday village in Lacanau, in the Gironde department, west of Bordeaux.
The assembly brought together nearly a hundred delegates, representing Philapostel’s 25 regional, departmental and thematic associations. As on previous occasions, the event included a philatelic exhibition and a ‘mail art’ competition.
As far as our field of study is concerned, we report on these assemblies because every year since 2009 in Raedersheim (see article published in VARIABLE 13), Philaposte has released a commemorative vignette LISA that can only be obtained at the venue and during the brief period of the assembly.
And so it was in 2026.
Lacanau is the surfing capital of France. The beaches of Lacanau-Océan attract thousands of surfers, and every year a major surfing competition, the Lacanau Pro, is held there. Lacanau is also a tourist resort situated in the Forêt des Landes de Gascogne, one of the largest pine forests in Western Europe. This vast forest was severely affected by wildfires just a few weeks after the assembly, at the end of July.
These aspects of the area were the themes of the LISA issue for the 2018 assembly (image on the right; see article and VARIABLE 49) and are once again the themes of the 2026 issue.
The new LISA is a design by the cartoonist Bernard Veyri, composed of three elements depicting a surfer, one of the access points to the beaches of Lacanau-Océan from the seafront promenade, and the pine forest.
As in previous events, the organisers managed to get La Poste to temporarily set up an IER NABANCO postal kiosk in one of the halls of the holiday complex for the printing of the vignettes LISA. This unit, connected to La Poste’s postal network and therefore offering the full range of postage rates and mail options, had been suitably configured with the ‘philatelic’ programme, which removes the Datamatrix code and the La Poste logo from the standard postage stamps issued.
Philapostel representatives also arranged a stand that served as a temporary post office (see note *) on Friday and Saturday, where delegates and visitors could purchase the commemorative items produced for the assembly and have their postal and philatelic items postmarked.
(*) It should be noted that Philapostel is a collectors’ association comprising mainly of current and former employees of the La Poste group.
Stamps and tracking dockets for domestic mail with tracking, ‘LETTRE VERTE SUIVIE’ and ‘LETTRE SERVICES PLUS’, the domestic express mail option with tracking and delivery within two days
In addition to the vignette LISA, the organisers had produced two personalised self-adhesive stamps and a special postmark, as well as a commemorative cover and postcard, all featuring designs by Bernard Veyri, who was present throughout the two days that the sales stand was open.
The two personalised stamps were also available as a ‘collector’s set’ comprising of four stamps and two QR codes featuring a short animation.
(English edition last rewritten by J. Gareze – August 2026)
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