in 2011 are their going to be more shows springing up ?

[afvnut75]

Thought id just write this thread to ask if more people are going to start up shows in middle and eastern england in 2011 As i feel that geographicaly speaking the country is lopsided with military vehicle shows with the majority of them on the south and south west coast !

 

Ive been to alot of military vehicle shows whilst doing military vehicles and certainly war and peace is the biggest, And it always makes me smile when arriving at the darford crossing on the evening that the show opens to see the look of come on come on ! on the faces of the owners of the various military vehicles in the queues of traffic, (no where else do you get this phenoma) (nor once you get there do you find a waf officer dancing with the member of the gestapo in one of the beer tents) not too mention the largest collection on show of military vehicles from virtually all armys , long may it continue !

 

But having flown up and down the A14 M11 M25 A26 for 5 consecuitive years in my various ex military vehicles i feel that the war and peace show is not really that central geographically speaking, for other parts of the country (When looking at logistics). I know there are lot of people in our hobby are in relative striking distance to war and peace and this isnt a problem for them (lucky devils ) But there are a great many of us that arent ! Ive always thought a shows success lies in the fact everyone can think yeah i can have a great ten days or so with my vehicle and my mates and not to have to get a mortgage out for the haulage/fuel then travel to the otherside of the country. This rather off putting to my mind Especialy if you want to take your prized possession of say 17 to 56 tons with you.

 

In the last few years ive turned my attentions to

gatherings with my vehicles namely local steam rallys and historic vehicle road runs And people at these events are still saying i didnt know you could own a saracen (for example ) let alone run these on the road then you get all the questions about the joys of owning them . After a few of these shows i feel that more people who own military vehicles should support their local rallys and fetes, The atmosphere at these are always very welcoming and driving your vehicles through the neighbouring villages is a very pleasureable experiance not to be missed !

 

My friends have said to me in the past over a beer if you won the lottery what would you do with the money my reply was buy an airfield in east anglia or somewhere like the oxfordshire buckingham area and hold shows there . "its just a dream of mine"

I hope that someone whos in a better position to carry this out will do , As i feel it would give people the chance to all attend if they wanted to and have a great time at an affordable distance then its up to them if they want to do the what i call the kentish run !

But if this isnt going to happen by any other means ill try and come up with something,

 

As they say its not what you know its who you know ! :cool2:

[eddy8men]

i couldn't agree more, there's very little in manchester even though a fair proportion of ww2 armour was built here and that's something i'd like to address, even the imperial war museum north only has 2 tanks a t 34 and t 55. i don't know yet how i'm going to get more armour on display but i promise i will or my names not eddy

 

i say go for it

 

eddy

[diver99]

Perhaps this is something Mr Wheatcroft could be involved in. There was a plan, before the new build at the Tank Museum, to physically move the collection 'up-north'. There was an idea that there was goiing to be an area of museums around Donnington. So the Wheatcroft collection could be displayed as well.

 

Beltring is also convenient for the european traders/exhibitors.

 

Getting another major event under-way, I think is achievable. One idea of mine, get the airfield and build permament structures for members vehicles as storage/workshops.

I will do it tomorrow after I win the euro lottery tonight!

 

But yes, your are right, the logistics of moving your vehicles is a major operation in itself. I am rather in awe in members who do all their own logistics, movements, re-supply (spares). Where in the Army, you would literally have a regiment to do it.

[gazzaw]

Yep same here for Scotland, something in the middle of the country (UK not just Scotland) would be nice to save an expensive and epic length of drive 'Dawn Sarf'

 

Pity there wasn't the good old British railways car/vehicle transportation of many years ago where you could drive to a central depot (Glasgow etc) roll vehicle onto the flat car (by their staff) and go up the front to the carriages, sans Buffet, sleeper etc and roll off at london, etc.

 

Now there's an idea for mil and classic car clubs to tie up with a railway preservation organisation and provide a service -especially over the high intensity weeks of June/July etc - doing our bit for the environment and arriving refreshed and ready to drink the beer tent dry of an evening or six.

Some railway buffs run historic trips in steam, diesel etc around the country why not troop trains and frieght cars full of MVs, classics etc (trains, trucks n troops lol)?

 

Fond memories of troop trains crammed full of squaddies (and this was in the 70s as a lowly Lcpl) and being shunted into every siding between Glasgow and Salisbury plain but with a cargo of Double Diamond and some musical mates what a party over the 4 days getting there.

 

You heard it here first, anyone know the chairman of a railway society?

 

Cheers (hic)

Gary

[Marmite!!]

The biggest problem is finding a date in the calender that doesn't clash with another show, don't just look what's on within a few miles, we have people traveling over 300miles every year to attend our Bunker Bash Show, also look at what else is on in the area when picking a date, you don't want to find that you are clashing with a steam show or similar.

 

To get a show off the ground I wouldn't start until you have at least £10k behind you for advertising, toilets, insurance, show ground rent etc. they all start eating into the funds.

 

Try talking to your local MVT area sec. & see if they will get something off the ground, they may be reluctant though after the MVT issued a new Guidance Manual for putting on a show & may not think it worth the hassle trying to comply with them

 

http://www.mvt.org.uk/safety/Event%20Guidance%20Document%20V1.pdf

 

If you do put a show on under the umbrella of the MVT at least your insurance would be covered & they could apply for a MVT loan.

[David I]

Hi All,

 

A lot of the work is perseverance. I help to organise a classic car show in the Scottish Borders.

Whereas we can easily draw in 1000 cars, military vehicles was a class in our show that was down. In 2006, one Austin Champ was at our event. Luckily for me it was owned by an Area liaison officer for SMVG. This year, by canvassing and putting word about, we had twenty two vehicles and two living history groups.

Our event is in a perfect location for Northern English, and Scottish enthusiasts meeting, and is a sort of a show within a show. certainly we are no threat to War and Peace, but it can be done.

 

Dave.

[gazzaw]

David

 

Is it on next year? Wouldn't mind bringing our vehs down and setting up a dispaly, is there camping etc?

 

Gary

[happydayz123]

Hi all,

 

Iv'e been reading this thread with some interest,as i and the staff at Ponderosa www.ponderosa-centre.co.uk have began a new event in the North of England.The Ponderosa war weekend dates set for the 8/9/10th of July 2011,please google the Yorkshire MVT website click on events for this year's report or read Novembers issue (114) of the Classic military vehicle magazine. For more info pm me.Also there's the Croft war weekend another good show new for this year.Without the vehicle owner's and general public, new show's wont survive.

Stu

[commander]

Our group the N Staffs MVT are running a small show the same weekend as the Ex Mil Show at Stafford

at the same venue April 29th/30th/May 1st check out the events section for further details

Commander

[shaun]

We will be putting on a show again at the Battlefront museum (the East England Museum). We had a good one at the stat of October this year as a wind down event with a convoy to the local town and and an Auster aircraft landing. we are aiming to do the same sort of thing again in April 2011 - i will post the date on here when we have nailed it down at the next meeting. www.battlefront.org.uk . TTFN Shaun

[Jessie The Jeep]

There are actually hundreds of events around the country, from early Spring to late Autumn, but not all will be on your doorstep. It depends how far you want to travel to see/participate in them. I do around 2000~2500 MV miles a year, plus another 1000 towing for events further afield. I'm averaging about 20 events a year, mostly in the North East of England, but I usually manage a couple in the Norfolk/Suffolk area too.

 

We started a new event here in the North East this year, at Croft Racing Circuit ( www.croftmilitary.co.uk ). We organised a military event to coincide with a vintage car race meeting, and also invited classic car collectors to display, along with a few aircraft and re-enactor groups. By combining a number of interests, we didn't have to organise everything ourselves, the circuits own team did all the money collecting and car park marshalling. By combining these different interests, we got more people through the gate, and guaranteed a good selection of things to see if the military entries were low. As it happened, we had around 70 MV's, 200 classic cars and bikes, a half dozen aircraft, plus the vehicle taking part in the racing.

[David I]

Hi Gazzaw,

 

Sorry its taken a while to reply, but my computer at home is down, and Ive been off work with the snow.

 

It is on again, 5th june, at Thirlestane Castle, lauder. You would be very welcome to bring your group/vehicles.

 

Our club website is www.bvac.org.uk If you look that up it will give you an idea about the main show, but the arrangements are a bit different for military (free camping on your pitch etc. PM me if you would like more details, but it could taske me a few days to get back to you.

 

 

Dave.

[jpg1982]

Would anybody be intereted in a show in North East Lincolnshire? Our venue used to hold many large events with upto 23000 people attending in the early 90's. We are hoping to gear up and focus on more shows next year and organise them ourselves, like we have in the past. We used to run a lot of military vehicles in many different forms, so we are geared up for this as a venue, its all down to interest.

 

It posibly wouldnt be an all military show, but with over 100 acres of off road terrain, 7 acres of hard standing and 2 1/2 miles of tarmac, as well as 300 acres of grass land, we have lots of space.

 

I hope im not breaking any rules with this post, this is only an idea at this stage. If we could do this in conjunction with another party then i am sure its something that we could get going.

 

Thanks Jason

[mogmaner]

sounds intresting ,