Man collecting 94,000 stamps for charity donation

Alan Barker has been collecting postage stamps since he was a child

A Harrogate man is aiming to collect 94,000 stamps before he turns 94 next month, so he can donate them to charity.

Alan Barker has been collecting postage stamps since he was a child, after being given his first one by his father in 1937, aged seven.

But he is planning to donate his collection to Macmillan Cancer Support in honour of his wife and son-in-law, who both died from the disease within seven weeks of each other.

Mr Barker said “everybody, including my neighbours” had been sending him stamps to help him hit his target.

He said: “My next-door neighbours have been getting stamps sent to them from relatives and friends, and they’ve passed them on to me.

“So now I’ve got stamps from all over the world, like Australia and America.

He said he had not yet figured out which was the oldest stamp in this collection: "I just sit up until midnight on a night, with a whisky, cutting them up so they’re nice and neat.”

Mr Barker said he currently has 63,347 stamps collected over his lifetime. He explained how it has helped him learn about different cultures and history.

Mr Barker wants to hit his target by his 94th birthday next month

“What I like about stamps is that they’re geographical; I have travelled the world mentally since I was young, collecting the stamps and learning about different countries,” he said.

Although giving up the stamp collection may be difficult, he is determined to help raise money to give back to the charity that helped look after his loved ones when they were ill.

“I just hope I can hit my target."

Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail].