The Norfolk and Norwich Philatelic (stamps and postal history) Society has been celebrating its 100th anniversary in style this week with an exhibition at the Forum, Norwich.

And the centrepiece is an original 1993 watercolour of a scene in Dersingham, west Norfolk, painted by the Prince of Wales, which was made into a stamp in 1994 and loaned to the society after they wrote to him. The exhibition also features rare stamps including valuable shipwreck recovered mail markings and treaty port stamps of Hong Kong and Singapore, all of which date from the era of the British Empire. The Fusion room has been playing films, one from 1936, which document the history of the postal industry.

Also of note is the mail coach bearing the marks of George IV dating from 1830, with original oil burning lamps worth thousands. Jim Fryer, pictured, society member and organiser of the event, said: 'There has been a lot of interest from the public. It was knee deep around the coach on Saturday.

'Our society has 130 members, only a handful in the country would top that, but we were still surprised when the Prince said he would be delighted to lend us the painting.

'This is the country which founded the postage stamp, with the famous Penny Black, we are unique for that. And we are quite proud of it really.'