Hi All

GENERAL

Well, we???re getting well and truly into the show season now, with many members out and about most weekends attending events, we are also getting a lot of show and event attendance requests so keep an eye on our events page to see what???s on or coming up. Event organisers can also put their event on the page directly using the online tool.

We???ve had no less than seven requests for vehicles from around the county to provide vehicles for the recent Armed Forces Day - whilst we did our best to support the many events, it did mean we were spread fairly thin on the ground.

We provided the Rayleigh event with about half a dozen vehicles and many thanks to those who attended. The day was a great success with lots of interest and a public attendance of around ten thousand I???m told - it certainly looked very busy and we had loads of interest in the display which included Pete???s 25 Pdr Field Gun and Matador on its first outing following its repaint. It was also nice to see the GMC Tipper out on one of its first public events with its new owner.

Richard and I also took the QL and Jeep to the Southend-on-Sea Robin Hood Country Fair, which, to be honest was more of a massive dog show! However we did receive a lot of attention and we had a great display with the vehicles and equipment. The weather was great, and we all had a wonderful time. The event organisers liked the display and we have been asked to participate in their other events.

I also attended the ???Boyz Toys??? event at Highlands House Chelmsford, being the only military vehicle there, feeling very lonely and being parked between the Ice Cream Van and the Ford Focus Owners Group was maybe not the best placement, but there was a lot of interest (probably because it was so different) and lots of complimentary comments.

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

There have been several more working parties on the airfield and things are progressing really well with a new entrance, enlarged public car park and access road in place the bridge is progressing well and near completion and we have added another entry point in to one of the display fields to make access easier. The new show layout is a great improvement and make visiting the show a better experience and much less likely to miss anything Also we now have the Show flyer sorted and is available for download on the web site under the ???Downloads??? Tab or if you want some A5 flyers to hand out please contact me and I will send them to you.

Full show programmes for the arena, flying display, live entertainment will be in the show newsletter which you can sign up for on the show web page (www.mfmshow.org.uk) In addition this year for the first time we will be having a show programme for passing on show information on exhibitors, program events schedules and general information. If you want to put something in the program be it information on your vehicle or Living History Group or advert please contact us via the show contact us link.

We have already confirmed and announced several interesting vehicles and aircraft including the Sally B B17 Flying Fortress and Vietnam era Huey Helicopter, this particular example was captured in the Falklands war by UK forces. In addition we have the Spitfire, and Hurricane and WW2 vintage training aircraft form the UK, US and Germany. Vehicle wise bookings are coming in steadily with overseas entries as well. Armour wise we have a full size WW1 tank replica, a couple of Shermans and variant including the Ram Kangaroo troop carrier and mighty M10 tank destroyer, from Russia we have a WW2 vintage T34, considered by many to be the best tank of WW2. We also have the full suite of post war British main Battle Tanks with Centurion, Chieftain and the massive 72 ton Challenger 2 and the armoured personnel carrier and several Ferret armoured cars.

Vehicle bookings are at a record high, with, (at the time of writing) 350 vehicles booked in. including a WW2 DUKW, Bedford trucks both wartime and post-war variants including a rare Bedford refueller and many other old British makers including Morris, Austin and Humber The USA is well represented with a host of GMC???s, Dodges, wartime Jeeps and Harley Davidsons. Post War vehicles, both armoured and soft skin are also represented with (of course) the Land Rover in its many variants as well as Alvis, AEC, Austin Champs and Daimler.

Living History wise we have had a record number of entries that are still rising, with 76 living history groups and displays with 1500 exhibitors and living history reenactors taking part in Living History displays and also a mock battle (lots of noise and loud bangs!)

Stalls wise we are also at a record with over a 100 bookings with more coming in per day. With many collectors, craft and family 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