Firstly, A Happy New Year to everyone

The second year of the Essex Historic Military Vehicle Association Charity has seen some wonderful highlights, coupled with some unfortunate events that I am sure we all would much rather forget. The Charity has attracted a lot of local interest, with the EHMVA Website and Facebook pages up and running in addition to our Event website which now has 3000 followers as well as an extensive mailing list.

Things have been progressing well within the Essex HMVA, and the charity continues to gain interest and members. We have been approached by TV and radio companies to ask if we can support them on various projects or sometimes just for information on a specific item. We continue to have a regular influx of membership enquiries and new members, and many requests to support events not just in the Essex area, but also further afield. Also a first for us, we have been supporting the TA with their recruiting activities by putting displays of vintage kit and equipment.

We are, once again planning to hold the Winter Gathering in February this year - this time it will be returning to its previous location at the Mill Beach Pub in Hybridge Basin, Maldon where the additional space means we can accept larger vehicles. For more information and updates on this, please look at our Facebook pages.

Last year we received many requests to attend various shows and events in and outside of the county and while we do our best to accommodate them and also publicise your event to our members and also other vehicle clubs we are unable to attend them all so please accept our apologies if we did not make your event and we will see if we can next year. Please send your request via our web site or Facebook page.

On a similar vein, it's worth checking that your public liability insurance covers displays or accidents arising from them (as many do not), so, whilst your vehicle may be covered, an incident arising, (for example), from someone tripping over part of your display and injuring themselves may not be. The Essex HMVA has secured cover for this type of incident, and more details can be provided to members on request. Not all vehicle groups do this.

We are registered with the United Kingdom Airsoft Retailers Association (UKARA) which means that the Essex HMVA can now approve members who wish to obtain realistic looking Airsoft guns for re-enactment and living history display purposes.


Military and Flying Machines Show 2016

We're making great progress towards being ready for Military and Flying Machines 2016, however, a couple of events back in 2015 have led to issues which may impact the 2016 show:

CAA Flying Regulations

Following last year's unfortunate accidents at Air Displays across the UK, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) announced that they intend to review their regulations with regards to flying displays - we're waiting to see what these changes will mean, so we can assess the potential impact on the show, but we will not be able to do so until late January / February when they are published. As ever, we will do everything we can to put on the best and safest show possible within these revised regulations.

We'd also like to take this opportunity to reflect on the Tragic Loss of Kevin Whyman last year at CarFest, Kevin was the business partner and friend of our Huey Pilot, who will be missed by everyone involved in the Charity

Equipment Theft

As those of you who follow us on Facebook or who have seen our website recently will know two days after the show we had a break in to our storage facility, we lost all six of our quad bikes, one of which was set on fire and destroyed. In addition, all our generators and trailers were also stolen. The Police have been informed; it's fair to say at this stage this may have an impact on our show as the cost of replacement will be substantial, as this equipment had been built up over a nine year period, to lose it all in one go like this was devastating. This is a disappointment in the extreme as next year is our tenth anniversary and we were and are still planning to do something special, however this theft will make it more difficult.

Sadly, despite efforts the Police have not been able to recover our stolen equipment, we are looking into how best to replace these items that were built up over a nine year period. I would like to take this opportunity, on behalf of all the Trustees to say an enormous thank you to everyone who has donated or is considering donating to help us achieve this aim - every donation, no matter how small helps us towards this goal.

On request from some of the Facebook followers we have set up a contribution fund for donations to help us raise the money for replacement equipment and I would like to take this opportunity, on behalf of all the Trustees to say an enormous thank you to everyone who has donated or is considering donating to help us achieve this aim ' every donation, no matter how small helps us towards this goal. It is greatly appreciated.

As ever, I'd like to offer my profound thanks to everyone who works so hard on the show - Military and Flying Machines is organised by a team of unpaid volunteers, who give up their spare time in order to organise, promote and run the show - It's easily forgotten that the show is not a commercial event, it's run as a charity with any money being made by the show going into the costs of putting on the event the following year.
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

We have had several new shows added to the events list so 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