One of the best supported weekend of the whole year sees hundreds of MVT members out with their vehicles supporting the RBL Poppy Appeal. Here are some of this year's activities from up and down the country.  Lest we forget.

The MVT were invited to present a tribute to the 80th Anniversary of DDay, as part of the Federation  of British Historic Vehicles Village at this years Classic Car Show at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham. There was a great turn out of vehicles of all shapes and sizes and the MVT display was one of the most popular in the show. A wreath laying ceremony at 11 o'clock on Remembrance Sunday was well attended and  the weekend was great promotion for the Trust.

The John West Rosebowl awarded for acheivements for the Council of Management went to Steve Parker.

The John Keedwell Award for the Post War vehicle that has travelled the greatest distance  to MVT events went to Paul Sennant and his Leyland.

The Annual General Meeting of the MVT was held on Sunday 20th October at the Sywell Aviator Hotel,  the home of our hosts, South East Midlands MVT.  In addition to the  formal business of approving accounts and appointing auditors, Tim Hawkes and Steve Parker were relected as Trustees and we welcomed 5 new Trustees: Chris Allsop, Bradley Johnson, Susie Newbould, Brian Slingsby and Jonathan Holmes. Annual Reports reflected the highly successful year that we have enjoyed; the highlight being the thousand strong MVT attendence in Normandy in June and the formation of four new Areas in South Yorkshire, Northern Ireland Dorset and Derbyshire. Our Annual Awards and Trophies were awarded  and we discussed our exciting plans for the forthcoming year including the digitising of our MVT Library which will see the first 150  WW1/WW2 manuals, books and documents being scanned by experts and made available as a unique resource for all to access. We also look forward to exhibiting at the NEC in November at the Classic Car Show, and fostering stronger ties with the National Memorial Arboretum and Tank Museum, in addition to taking the MVT trailer to an even bigger range of events up and down the country. .

For the first time, the meeting was streamed via zoom which meant that members unable to make the journey could observe the proceedings.

Many thanks to our President Richard Beddall for chairing the meeting and Neill Elliot and his Area Members for such a warm welcome to such a fantastic venue.

The MVT Annual General Meeting will be held at Sywell Aviation Museum on Sunday 20th October 2024 at 1pm. Location:  Sywell Aerodrome, Wellingborough Rd, Northampton NN6 0BN.

Many of our members took part in thr recent commemorations to mark teh 80th Anniversary of Operation Market Garden.

A large contingent were involved in the 5-yearly XXXCorps run from Leopoldsberg to Bemmel following the route of XXXCorps in real time. In what proved to be a unique and unforgettable experience the highlight was teh incredible welcome of the Dutch people in every community they travelled through and stayed in.

More members took part in events based in Oosterbeek and Arnhem, many joining ABWO for their attendence at Ginkel Heath for the mass parachute drop and the  famous "Race to the Bridge" from Renkum to the John Frost Bridge in Arnhem.

A group of the Council of Management laid a wreath on behalf of the MVT at Oosterbeek Cemetery and witnessed the moving Flower Laying ceremony where hundreds of local children laid flowers on the graves of the soldiers that they tend year round. They were later joined by our patron James Holland.

The MVT are proud to have supported the Overlord Show 2024 and helped them raise money for SSAFA

The MVT were proud to support YWE 2024 by sponsoring the Valentine DD Tank and sending the PR trailer.  Many of our members attended the event with vehicles and displays, helping make the weekend a huge success.

The MVT are proud to have supported the Commemorative Convoy from Basingstoke to Hungerford - a great weekend was had by all.

During our visit to the Hill 112 memorial in Normandy, it was pointed out that the Churchill tank was in need of restoration. Less than 2 weeks later, the MVT were proud to have coordinated and sponsored a repair by gate Guards Restorations. Before and After!

350 vehicles and over 1000 people signed up to be part of the #MVTDDAY24 community  and took part in the commemorations in Normandy to mark the 80th Anniversary of the greatest seaborne invasion of all time and the beginning of the liberation of Europe. 

Our members supported a range of commemorations from major National Events with hundreds of vehicles, to small ceremonies.

Many MVT Members, up and down the country,  joined in the  Federation of British Historic Vehicles Drive it day to raise the profile of historic vehicles everywhere.

The MVT are proud to announce that we are now official partners of the NMA, our national site of  remembrance whose main objectives are to  honour the fallen, recognise service and sacrifice, and foster pride in the British Armed Forces and civilian community.

Our name appears on the supporters board at the entrance to the visitor centre and we appear on their website  www.thenma.org.uk/about-us/who-we-are/sponsors-and-supporters#

We continue to support the development of their new welcome area and will keep members updated.

The South Wales Safety Training Day was held on the morning of Saturday 16th March at The Tank School, Little Trostrey Farm, Usk, Monmouthshire.
 
There were 10 MVT members who completed the training (including the Sarah and Bill Swan who travelled across from London) who are now proudly sporting 2024 MVT Safety Marshall Vests. Alastair Scott, who kindly let us use his land, also took part in the training.
 
The aims of the course were :

• to learn and practice manoeuvring vehicles safely
• dynamic risk assessment during manoeuvres – recognising and avoiding obstacles, members of the general public/pets etc
• practical exercise in fire fighting – with hands on experience of different types of fire extinguisher, and when to use them

 
It was a successful day,  with all attendees performing very well.

Thank you to everyone who came along and made it an enjoyable day, and to the local area who provided the catering during the morning and to Karen Everest for her organisation.

The  200th edition of our award-winning WINDSCREEN Magazine has been published!

 In 1943, a young girl called Jean Gibson, wrote a poem to the crew of a Lancaster Bomber that she knew. The crew was tragically lost before they ever received it, but 80 years later, her son, one of our Council of Management members, Richard, found the poem and tracked down the relatives of the Bomber crew. The full story has been feaured on both local and national media

-BBC article: 22 January 2024 BBC West Midlands Article
ITV Calendar article 15 January 2024 BBC 'Calendar' news article