Welcome to the March issue of the BELTRING BUGLE
- the official newsletter of the KM War and Peace Show
July 18th-22nd 2001

The first War and Peace/UKMS Militaria Fair took place this Sunday.

With a modest covering of snow at 6am when the first traders arrived, the usual call was made to the Weather Department and in true War and Peace fashion by 10 am the sun was shining and the snow had gone. Over 45 traders and just under 700 buyers attended making it an outstanding success. Frank and Tony Robinson of UKMS had worked hard to ensure that the traders were all welcomed and catered for. Comments included plenty of "we'll trade at each one" remarks and several people said the success was due to the unique reputation War and Peace has coupled with the organisational. enthusiasm of UKMS. Unquestionably there is a need for quality events particularly in the region. We were delighted that visitors from Europe attended, taking advantage of course of our special and unbeatable offer with Norfolk Line.

Many IMPS members attended, from all over the South East - one thing is for sure, the Hop farm Militaria Events are going to be a major part of the military enthusiasts scene. With widespread publicity in both the Kent Messenger (our sponsors of the War and Peace Show) and Radio Kent, we reached a wider audience than purely through the specialist press. Rex did a live interview on Radio Kent and we were prominently featured on the popular Sunday morning show co-hosted by club member Trevor Claringbold. Our chums from the trade press were in attendance so lookout for some good publicity.

If you aren't a trader but want to sell off a pile of your collection, you can of course take a stand at any of the Militaria fairs - just turn up before 8am on the day.
SKY TV were filming more footage about the show at the Hop Farm last week, for their documentary about War and Peace.

We are delighted to have finalized a major award to be presented at Beltring each year - full details will be announced in the April Beltring Bugle.
Stuntman Jim Dowdal, who kindly presents the re-enactments at War and Peace each year and delights the crowd with his 20 minute talk on how Saving Ryan's Privates was made, has now got his own TV series on Discovery. Each programs look at a major military vehicle of WW2 and its influences on the fighting. The pilot show, featuring the BMW R75 and Zundapp has already received acclaim, filming is in progress, so watch out for it in the late summer.

And speaking of movies, this long hot summer sees the release of major war epics - Band of Brothers, Captain Correlli's Mandolin, and the Disney epic Pearl Harbour. We will be presenting re-enactments themed around these films which will involve as usual a big cast ! The public who pay to be attend always enjoy these events and we suspect those involved do sort of enjoy it too?The current arena events involving re-enactors came about really thanks to Roger Jerram and Lee Money's productions of "Good Morning Viet Nam" a few years ago which set the scene for the public entertainment we lay on. Roger tells us they will be doing an artillery barrage this year from their excellent "Da Nang Firebase" diorama - brace yerselves folks!
Heavy armour is always a hit with our public, once again we will be featuring a wide selection of tanks including some that have never visited Beltring before.
With our commitment to safety at the show we are reviewing the safety procedures for tank and vehicle movement. Please make sure you adhere to the safety rules and ensure we have an accident free event.
IMPS publicity man, Andy Tizzard has pulled of quite a coup for our 2001 show. The Hymer family, stars of channel Four's excellent "1940's House" have accepted Andy's invitations to attend the show and we are sure they will bring us some excellent publicity. Andy got to know the Hymer's when filming the series and they will prove to be ideal participants in the event

With so many Forces veterans attending the show, we will be providing a Veterans Hospitality Tent,to allow our guests some respite from the heat and dust to take refreshments (in true 1940's style of course) - our friend Albert Figg will as usual be at the event helping to keep the sprit of the Hill 112 memorial alive - if you meet Albert you can only marvel at his enthusiasm and energy that made the memorial possible.
Have you sold any raffle tickets for the Jeep Raffle yet? If not you are on a charge!
Every ticket sold helps YOUR club - it really isn't a tough sell to sell twenty quids worth of tickets to family and friends - Please do YOUR bit for the IMPS. Every ticket sold is a pound in the club funds

Just in case you had forgotten, Rex and The KM War and Peace Office can be contacted on 01304 813945