Formed by historic military vehicle and history enthusiasts in 2014, the Essex Historic Military Vehicle Association (EHMVA or Essex HMVA), Charity number: 1155705 is one of the fastest growing military Associations in the UK, with well over 250 members, our aims are to help preserve military history, vehicles and artefacts.
The Essex HMVA has a membership whose vehicles range from push bikes, jeeps, land rovers, lorries, artillery and tanks. Historic Military Vehicles are in demand for fêtes, shows, living history displays and film work. Members vehicles and equipment date from WW1 and WW2 through to relatively modern examples such as Chieftain tanks. We also welcome non-vehicle owning members who may take part in living history, military collectors or military historians. Although Essex based, you do not have to live in Essex to join. We have members not only from all over the country, but in Europe too.
If you'd like to learn more about us, why not watch our short video below to learn more about who we are and what we do.
The Essex HMVA also supports groups such as the British Legion, supplying vehicles as a backdrop for their fund-raising collections and for the local Normandy Veterans association.
Particular attention is paid to ensuring the authenticity of vehicles, equipment and displays to ensure that all our events are of educational value for members of the public and to ensure that the younger generations are aware of our heritage.
We also attend schools to assist in education by reinforcing the concepts taught in key stage 2 of the National Schools History Curriculum.
We have recently been requested to give talks to local groups including those such as U3A’s etc. Please get in touch, if you would like one of our members to come and talk to your local group.
Our members historic military vehicles have appeared in many films, TV series and documentaries including: The Monuments Men, Danger UXB, The Dirty Dozen, Patton, Full Metal Jacket and Band of Brothers to name but a few.
In addition to taking part in many shows and displays over the South of England every year, Branch members have participated in both the D-Day Normandy Anniversary and VE Day commemoration events taking part in parades in both England and France.
We welcome members from all backgrounds and military interests, and you do not need to own a military vehicle to join.
One thing that makes our association a bit different from many other military groups is that we have a jeep that is available to active members. To find out more visit Airborne Jeep pages.
The association holds its own annual show, (which is our main fundraising event) - 'The Essex HMVA Echoes of History Show' This is a way of educating the public about military history and the equipment used. We have been running such events for many years, including those under the Military and Flying Machines title.
Our event is held every August at the Living Memorial in Rettendon, where we take you back in time, and you can experience history first hand. To find more about the event, visit the Echoes of History website.
We want to try and keep military history alive for future generations. A chance for us to show how technology developed and educate those to remember the sacrifices.
A copy of the Essex HMVA's aims can be viewed here as well as
our rules and show terms.
We welcome donations to help us achieve our aims, if you'd like to make a donation, please use the PayPal button below:
Our main fund raising is achieved by running the Echoes of History Show event every year. Monies earnt from this are spilt into an annual budget to run the following years show and anything outside of this is used to fund the charities running costs and aims. Membership monies collected are used to self-fund the membership operating costs and any surplus is retained in the main account for charity use.We run and attend many events which are free to the public, and if you see a charity bucket, any donation is always very welcome.
The Trustees have agreed to set a policy in place that we will not cold call either our members or outside individuals to ask for donations. We may call, write or email to remind members their membership has lapsed or in cases where we need to grant either reduced / free membership in order to comply with our policy on access for those on limited means. We will also mailshot organisations or companies where we feel there would be mutual interest in supporting us through advertising or sponsorship. Should in the future , we wish to raise funds for a project, we will ensure this is done in such a way that does not put any pressure on hose individuals contacted to contribute and without the use of any "cold call" listing - either purchased or otherwise to contact members of the public, and will not hassle commercial organisations for money, but may contact them.
The trustees note the adverse publicity and damage that can be attached to charities as a whole should we act contrary to the statement above.