The United Kingdom Group. For those who do not know us, we are a group based in the United Kingdom for collectors of Irish Belleek porcelain. The pottery was founded in 1857 and still produces wares today. most prized and collected are the early Black Mark pieces. Full and Associate membership is available. If you wish to join, please click on our 'Join Us' link, where payment can be accepted via paypal or cheque through the post. Please use our 'contact us' page for more details.

Our Last UK Meeting...was our Christmas Party. This year, we decided to visit Lincoln for our party during December. The group had chosen Lincoln as the city holds an annual Christmas Market on our group party weekend. We met for Dinner at the Wig and Mitre Pub winners of the 2011 Lincolnshire Dining Pub of the Year. Also on the prior Friday, Paul and Elaine Ewings invited everyone to their home for drinks, nibbles and to view their collection. We also announced this year's UK Group honoree at the party and drew the winning tickets for our annual raffle. The first two prizes are shown further down this page.

No major lasting snow yet in England, but we thought you'd like to see (below) our Newsletter Editor Chris Marvell and Group Co-ordinator, Bev Marvell's snow sculpture of Devenish Island Round Tower which was crafted when the UK was blanketed with a good covering of snow last year

UK Group Raffle Prizes 2011...First Prize was this wonderful fully painted First Period Echinus Plate with monogramme left. We also had a First Period Greeek Plate as second prize and a good selection of further black mark pieces. Winner of the Echinus Plate was Diana Awdrey, host of our Autumn Meeting and the Greek Plate was won by a delighted Chris Reynolds below

Last International Meeting...was held in the States when a large contingent of the UK Group members from the UK and around the world met at the 2011 Belleek International Collectors Convention held Thursday 15th to Sunday 18th September 2011 in Chicago, USA at the Doubletree Hotel. The Windy City Chapter put together an exciting schedule of events which everyone enjoyed. Unfortunately, not all UK collectors were able to make the trip to Chicago but members from the UK Group actively participated when there and took plenty of pictures for our next Newsletter. Our thanks to everyone at the Windy City Chapter and the Belleek Pottery and anyone else involved in the event for yet another wonderful convention. Image below...Fergus Cleary Head of Design and Patricia McCauley Visitors Centre Manager enjoying themselves with UK Members NEW CONVENTION 2011 PAGE available now

Our Next UK Group Meeting..returns to Portsmouth for our early spring meeting to be held in March 2012. Patricia McCauley, Belleek Pottery Visitor Centre Manager will be our guest. Patricia will present Pat Tubb with our annual honoree award for the last year amongst other activities to be announced soon.

Belleek UK Group Membership Renewals are now due. All full members will have received a renewal reminder for 2012 with their meeting papers for our Christmas Party. Can everyone ensure that they have set up their standing order for the amount of £20 with the correct UK account details. If needed, Please email our Treasurer, Paul Ewings using the 'contact us' form above left or by email to treasurer@belleek.org.uk

Newsletter...Our latest web based issue includes Articles on Matthew Henry Pope, Potter, Neville Maguire's research article, Regaining Time in Belleek, Tony Fox, Black Mark Tea Ware Part 14 and a look at Belleek sold recently at auction and on E Bay Please click on cover left to view. Our newest paper based Newlsetter has now been posted to all UK member and Associates based overseas. Coming in future web based issue will be a full report on the 2011 Chicago convention. To obtain our Newsletters when they are issued, please enquire about UK membership or Overseas Associate membership.

Rare Belleek...Our Rare Belleek page has now been updated. Flowered First Period Tazza, Rare Echinus colourway, Honeysuckle Vase, Marigold decoration to bread plate, plus Rare Tiffany New York marked tea set including tray, Earthenware pieces, Double Flowered Picture Frame owned by Cyril Arnold, Leinster Platter and unusual Grass Egg Cup. We have also created a NEW Rare Belleek Archive which can be accessed left from menu options. These have been sub-divided into several areas and can be accessed using key words, Crested,Painted,Tea Ware, Earthenware and Decorated. We will continue to add images firstly to our 'RARE Belleek Page' and then later to our individually themed pages. Our first update is now available.

Below...from our NEW Rare Belleek 'Painted' page, part of a bone China Dessert Set decorated with Scenes of Ireland, First Period, Red Mark

Identifying and Valuing Belleek Pieces... We are happy to help members identify pieces of Belleek but are unable to assist with valuations

Belleek UK Group Web Site Takeover... we have recently become aware that our site can be 'diverted' when using Internet Explorer. The result has been a screen showing 'under construction' as users were directed to a different site and not the genuine UK site. For Internet Explorer users, we suggest trying Google Chrome Browser or Mozilla Firefox which are alternatives and do not seem to suffer the problems that develop using Internet Explorer. As we are now aware of this issue, we can keep the site fully available. If you do know other Belleek Collectors who use the UK site, please contact them to advise them that we are still here and not 'under construction'.