I've held off writing my newsletters now for two quarters, partly because I was hoping that the situation we all find ourselves in would improve and partly because the events season that would normally have featured in my newsletters rapidly vanished.
Previously I had written how our plans for this year had been mapped out thoroughly, with planning for VE day 75 events and of course Echoes of History 2020. Then, coronavirus hit and we ended up having to take the difficult decisions one by one to postpone events. We hoped that we would have been able to hold Echoes of History 2020, but that was not to be either and the Trustees along with myself took the difficult decision to postpone it until 2021.
I have to say that even to this day I am certain we made the correct collective decision for everyone's safety and I'm heartened by the messages of support we've had from traders, exhibitors, members and the general public alike. The support we've had from everyone has meant I'm looking forwards to the 2021 show even more.
Amidst all this bad news, We did have a ray of light - the time away from normal activities allowed us to do a number of different things that we never had time to do; We took the time to implement a new process to log into the website, which did away with having to have different passwords every quarter for the Olive Drab and significantly improved the members area
We live streamed virtual association meetings to keep everyone informed, and as part of this, we started our own YouTube channel.
That leads me on nicely to say that we were recently invited by the the Chelmsford Civic Society to provide a video about the Essex HMVA for their Heritage open day which, this year, is taking place virtually.
I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone who helped out by giving up their time so generously to either bring their vehicles along and talk about them on camera, or for those who gave up their time to film and edit the resulting video ... I'm not going to spoil the surprise beyond saying that I'm very proud of everything that we did and if you'd like to see our contribution, please keep an eye on our website as we'll be publishing it there after 2pm on Sunday the 13th of September ... you will also be able to see the video directly on our YouTube channel and you can read more about that shortly.
Of course, the best way to find out about activities like this is to become a member (if you're not already) and join the Essex HMVA now, where you'll find out about this and more in our monthly newsletter - if you'd like to become a member, click here.
YouTube channel
Speaking of our YouTube channel, I have a plea - we'd love to make it easier to find our channel, and we need your help us do this - we'd love if you could subscribe to our channel and also watch, comment and like our videos - we've got the start of what we hope will be a regular series of walkarounds for member vehicles as well as some great archive recordings for videos there - we hope to keep making content for the channel, both public content for people outside of the Essex HMVA to watch, but also exclusive members-only content.
So, this is where my request to you all starts - To be able to get a 'proper' channel address, we need to get over 100 subscribers and I need your support to enable us to do this, so why not take a look for yourself ? (and like, subscribe and join in by commenting as well !)
Our YouTube channel is here: Essex HMVA YouTube channel
Essex HMVA Instagram account
You may or may not have been aware that we now have a dedicated Instagram account for the Essex HMVA - we will use that account to post pictures of both forthcoming events and information about events that we will be at, if you'd like to take a look, you can find it here: https://www.instagram.com/essex.hmva/
Essex HMVA Website
If you would like your collection to appear on the Essex HMVA, please contact Russell or David at: Essex HMVA website editors, sending them pictures of your collections and a description where appropriate. This is a chance to let others see and learn about your interests, and I would encourage everyone to do so. As well as the website, we also have Face Book pages for both the EssexHMVA and Echoes of History there is also an additional one specifically for reenactors attending the show.
I mention several times in this report about contacting the Essex HMVA; this can be done via email, phone, the web sites (any of them) or Face Book pages (any of them) or even the Echoes of History Show line.
Olive Drab Magazine
At the start of the year, the Olive Drab magazine has had a brush and polish up, and I have to say that I really like the new look pages - if you have anything you'd like contribute to the Olive Drab, I know that the editors would be more than happy to hear from others who feel that they'd like to write something.
For non-members, you can have a glimpse of what you're missing at: www.olivedrab.co.uk
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, can supply vehicles it's usually at short notice. So, if I do approach you with regards to film work I would appreciate a speedy answer in order that we can either supply a vehicle or I can ask someone else. 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 consider 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!
BARN
Currently the Barn is full, however there may be some movement soon, so if you have an interest in storing your vehicle there, please let us know.