Hi All

GENERAL

Following my appeal in the last newsletter for a jeep for a new member, he is now the proud owner of a very nice 1944 Jeep. I have also been doing some authentication of some newly restored Jeeps, so I am sure we will be seeing a few more out and about this summer. We conducted our first working party at Damyns Hall the other weekend, and now have a semi-completed bridge which we hope to have finished within the next few weeks, we also plan to improve the access to the display fields by creating a couple of extra entry and exit points.

A Trip Out

Pete and I both took our trucks to the Chelmsford Industrial Museum the other weekend. This was to support the Marconi Day celebrations. We used the Bedford QL and Matador as back drops for a vintage military radio display. It was a low key event, however we received a lot of interest in both the vehicles and kit with lots of fascinating anecdotes from ex-Marconi people, Veterans and old radio officers. The Museum location is very scenic and its content spans the Marconi Factory history, as well as Marine Radio displays dating from the period of the Titanic to (almost) present day. They also have the hut, piano and other kit from which Marconi made the first ever radio broadcasts. I would recommend a visit to their next open day.

Another museum

Over the Bank Holiday we went down to Portsmouth and visited the "Explosion" Museum - it's worth visit visiting if you get the chance. Set in the Naval Armoury near Gosport, it's a modern, interactive museum in the historic buildings and also has lots of interesting bits in it. It's highly recommended.

HAVCO

The Essex HMVA has become part of the Havering Council Volunteer scheme (HAVCO). This scheme started to support the Olympics, where volunteers gave their time to support charitable events. As such, we are looking for HAVCO volunteers to act as event ambassadors to support the show in several different roles. For more information, please go to the HAVCO web site. For those who have already contacted us, a big thank you and we will be getting back to you in due course.

FILM WORK

A general note to vehicle owners, I often get requests for vehicles to take part in film work. When I am asked if we, as an Area can supply vehicles it's usually at short notice. So if I do approach you with regards to film work I would really appreciate a speedy answer in order that we can either supply a vehicle or I can ask someone else. Recently, I had a request for a military Land Rover (a simple request you would have thought) - after asking several people (none of whom came back to me), we were unfortunately unable to fulfil the requirement, which is a shame as I am sure someone out there with their Landy would have loved to do it. Doing film work can be a great experience and you never know who you are going to meet!

(This also goes for other requests we often get for vehicles for weddings, school leaving days, 40's parties and even funerals.)

To those people who request a vehicle for these types of activity, can I ask you to bear with us and we will do our best to fulfil your request if we can. However, please take into account this is our hobby and the vehicles are the owners pride and joy, valuable, not cheap to run and if you want something like a tank it's expensive!

MEMBERS HELP WANTED

We have an opportunity to have a couple of tanks at our show providing we can get them going, they are both ex. Gulf War and are located near Maldon. So if you fancy lending a hand please let me know.

MILITARY AND FLYING MACHINES - 2013

Work on the show is progressing well, we have issued several press releases and you can also sign up to the show monthly newsletter, which, in an ill-concealed attempt to make you subscribe, features a quiz and prize draws! It's obviously successful as we have a circulation well into three figures, so let's see if we can make it four! Also, we now have the Show flyer available for download on the web site under the "Downloads" Tab. Alternately, if you would like some A5 flyers to hand out, please contact me and I will send them to you.

Aircraft wise, we have confirmed the Sally B Flying Fortress for both days, as well as the Spitfire, Hurricane, ME108 and others - there will also be another "big" press release soon.

We have already confirmed several interesting vehicles and aircraft including WW2 vintage training aircraft form the UK, US and Germany - we're not sure if that's been done before. Vehicle wise bookings are now coming in thick and fast, and we expect to exceed last year's attendance figures with overseas entries as well. Armour wise, we now have about thirty bookings with over half of them tanks. More news later as we hope to have something a bit special coming.

We have, so far, had our highest ever entries for Living History so we have some great expectations on that side, we also have had increased bookings for Stalls.

We have almost completed the live music line up with a few new artists to our show and a Thursday night exhibitors only Burlesque Performance by the World Famous Kitten Von Mew! Kitten has also generously agreed to perform some 40's vintage songs on the public days as well.

Plus we have the equally famous Polka Dot Girls who are one of the top performing 40's style Girl Groups in the UK and a lot more! More info to follow...

For more Military and Flying Machines info go to our web sites, join us on Twitter or go to our Facebook page.

Interest this year has so far been exceptional with a lot of media interest and we're hoping to be able to bring you some news about some exciting developments as we get closer to the show.

If you are a media representative, please contact us about attending our media days on the 1st and 2nd of August, where we will have vintage aircraft and tanks available for you to see and try out first hand.

BARN

Currently the Barn is full, however there may be some movement in the near future, so if you have an interest in storing your vehicle there, please let us know.

SHOWS

For info on the Winter Gathering please look at our web site events page which will be updated as soon as we have more information.

I recommend you go to www.essexhmva.co.uk, where you can see the latest info on up and coming events

Likewise, if you are an event organiser, please use our contact us form to enter your event details so we can add it to our web site in order that our members can see it.

Colin Tebb

Essex HMVA Chairman