CHRISTMAS Message from the FBHVC

Thanks to Anthony Osborne for sharing the FBHVC's seasonal message:

To all in the historic vehicle community, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and thank you for your ongoing support for our mission to keep yesterday's vehicles on tomorrow's roads. 

There are even more of you supporting us this year, with well with over 500 subscriber organisations and many individual and trade supporters joining us over the past year. 

We have achieved much and seen the historic vehicle market weather the current economic crisis pretty surprisingly well so far.  However, there are signs that events in particular are feeling the pressure and clubs are needing to try ever more innovative approaches to recruit and retain membership subscriptions. 

A continuing success story has been the return of Drive it Day in support of Childline®.  Last year we smashed the total of the previous year, with a total of £47,000 raised through the sales of our rally plates. 
When an organisation raises more than £30,000 (the cost of operating Childline for a 24-hour period), the NSPCC award the title ‘One Unforgettable Day’ in recognition of children who make that first call on that day to Childline to ask for help.  So, let's push for doing two unforgettable days in 2023! 

Over a million miles of historic vehicle usage has now been off-set by our partnership with Tree-V wihich continues to grow in both an arboreal and popularity sense! Whilst we all realise that our vehicles have already paid their dues regarding their manufacturing output and that our usage is so minimal that we contribute immeasurably smalll levels of CO2 to the environment, we must be seen to be doing what we can. It is also a very useful way of engaging positively in conversation with the public and an even better opportunity to demonstrate and educate them on our minuscule impact to carbon emissions. 

On a legislation front, the politics of the nation have mainly meant that Government's eyes were elsewhere. The expansion of the ULEZ zones in London continued, but with exemptions for historic vehicles. DVLA are continuing to rebuild their operation in the wake of the pandemic and we have been working through several issues with them in recent months regarding the registration and classifications for certain historic vehicles. 

However, news of the plans for travel lockdowns in the new 15-minute city of Oxford and ever more draconian laws being mooted by the EU for our European colleagues, reminds us to remain ultra vigilant and not to be complacent about the victories already won. 

Your support throughout the year and the hard work of our team of volunteers means that we are able to do just that, so a huge thank you for all that goes in to making our work as the Federation possible. That thanks extends to our commercial partners as well, who have been incredible in their unwavering support throughout the past 12-months. 

Club Expo sponsored by Peter James Insurance in association with the British Motor Museum will take place on Saturday 21 January.  We have a stunning programme lined up for you, so we hope you can join us for a day of useful content and support for historic vehicle clubs. Details below. 

Please enjoy the festive break and we hope to welcome you to Club Expo in just a few weeks.

David Whale
Chairman, FBHVC