Trophy History

Each year at the War and Peace Show trophies are awarded. All military vehicle exhibits are issued with a window sticker with the vehicle's entry number clearly marked. If you wish your entry to be judged, please ensure this is appropriately attached to your vehicle upon arrival and kept in place during the duration of the show.

This is necessary for your vehicle to be judged so that it can be appropriately identified and become a War and Peace prizewinner. There are only 28 categories for winners and runners up. Judges are volunteers whose identities are not disclosed to give them free range around the show site. Judging is not an easy task and any assistance exhibitors can give in making this easier is very much appreciated.  Click here for 2009 winners and runners up.

The Bart Vanderveen Challenge Shield

2001 Bart Vanderveen - Editor of Wheels & Tracks Magazine

The Bart Vanderveen Challenge Shield was inaugurated in 2001 by Winston Ramsey, publisher of After The Battle and Wheels & Tracks Magazine in recognition of Bart's huge contribution to the military vehicle movement. When leading military vehicle historian Bart died in Februay 2001 the publishers of Wheels & Tracks took the decision to close the magazine. With a life long interest in military vehicles, Bart became a prolific author on the subject producing the three Olyslager directories in the 60s which have subsequently become standard works. He had edited the irreplaceable Wheels & Tracks magazine ever since he persuaded Winston Ramsey of After The Battle magazine to start to publish it in 1982.

The magazine had reached issue number 72 when Bart learned that he was suffering from cancer and through sheer willpower he completed three more making a total of 75 issues. Since 2005 Classic Military Vehicle magazine has jointly administered the award.

With his natural modesty Bart would doubtlessly have rejected the idea of The Bart Vanderveen Challenge Shield out of hand, but Winston Ramsey decided that the first such award should be made Posthumously for Bart himself for his incredible contribution to the movement. The award was accepted on Bart's behalf by Dirk Leegwater, a long standing friend, of both Bart and his wife Margo.

Bart saw beauty in military vehicles when others saw scrap. He restored his first vehicle in 1959 after publishing a book on the subject. During the 60s Bart's Olyslager books became, and remain, essential for enthusiasts world-wide. He went on to publish many books and was editor of Wheels & Tracks from 1982 until his premature death in 2001.

The Bart Vanderveen Challenge Shield established to respect his memory is presented annually to the individual who has contributed most to the military vehicle preservation movement. Nominations are made by fellow enthusiasts and the award is made at The War and Peace Show.

Previous winners:

2001 Bart Vanderveen Posthumously
2002 Peter Grey - Founder of the MVT
2003 Rex Cadman - Organiser of the War and Peace Show
2004 Tony Budge - Founder of the Budge Collection
2005 Joe Lyndhurst - Founder of the Warnham Museum
2006 Preston Isaac - Founder of the Cobbaton Combat Museum
2007 Mike Stallwood - Proprietor of R & R Services
2008 Jack Beckett - Creator of Historic Military Vehicle Forum (HMVF)
2009 David Fletcher - The Tank Museum, Bovington

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Tony Budge, OBE DL

1939-2010

It is with great sadness that I have to report the death of Tony Budge, who died on 3 February 2010 after a short illness.

From an early age, Tony had a fascination with all things military and had intended to join the Army; completing all the paperwork required for an officer selection interview. However, his mother had other ideas and he joined the family house building business instead. Eventually, Tony established his own business and at one time, his Plant Company was one of the largest in Europe. He ran a highly successful civil engineering organisation responsible for many major road contracts in the East Midlands and had extensive business interests in coal mining both in the UK and North America.

His energy and drive was also evident when he took an interest in collecting military vehicles in early 1984. Within a few months, he had amassed between thirty and forty vehicles, including a number of tanks. However, Tony wanted his collection of vehicles to be properly stored, maintained and displayed and within a very short time had established the Budge Collection. He converted a former builder’s yard across the road from his office in Retford into a storage facility for his vehicles but the collection grew so rapidly that further storage facilities were constructed both in Retford and on the company airfield at nearby Gamston.

His influence on the military vehicle scene in the 1980s and early 1990s was profound due to the success of his collecting philosophy. Armoured vehicles, many in scrap or dire condition, were acquired from around the world and brought back to Retford for restoration in the Collection workshops. The standard of the workshop’s restoration was second to none and the diversity and range of the armoured vehicles in the Collection rapidly established it as one of the world’s major armoured vehicle collections. Indeed, the 1989 Open Day displayed more Soviet armoured vehicles in running condition than any other museum in the Western World. 

The Collection eventually consisted of almost 500 items of military hardware ranging from a Jeep to an entire Scud missile battery. Contacts had been established with every major armour museum in the world and surplus items were traded for material the Collection required. Although the Collection was only open to the public on Charity Open Days, vehicles were displayed at military vehicle shows and charity events all over the UK. These included the Royal Armoured Corps Open days at Bovington Camp, major MVT shows at Southsea, Weston-super-Mare and Elvington plus the early shows at the Hop Farm, Beltring which eventually became the highly successful War & Peace Show.

The Collection gave an impetus to other museums and organisations to match its achievements and established the credentials of military vehicle collecting as a serious hobby. Individuals who had began by searching for items for the Collection continued in the business and supplied vehicles to other organisations. It is without doubt that the Budge Collection kick started the international search for such items, and without Tony’s unconditional and total support, the entire military vehicle hobby would be far poorer today. Indeed, an offshoot of the collection was the establishment of a military sales organisation which eventually supplied of several hundred surplus vehicles for sale to collectors. 

It is a measure of Tony’s achievement in the world of military vehicle collecting that to date; he is the only individual to be awarded the prestigious Bart Vanderveen Trophy on both sides of the Atlantic, and in the same year. (Photo: Tony being awarded the Bart Vanderveen Trophy at War and Peace in 2004.  L-R Winston Ramsey, Bob Fleming, Tony)

Tony had always had a fascination with firearms and constructed an armoury and small arms range within the new Collection buildings. He was successful in obtaining a Section 5 Firearms Authority and in 1997, purchased a selection of automatic weapons from the Egyptian MOD. Once delivered and with the quality and quantity of the items established, the business grew to become Ryton Arms, one of Europe’s largest Firearms Dealers whose presence at arms fairs around the UK and North America is still in evidence today.

Tony was a generous individual whose support for local charities was well known in his local area. He was quiet and unassuming and in the words of someone who occasionally met him at  Arms Fairs commented, “He was always friendly and welcoming and, no matter how busy he was, would make time to set up a picture of one or two of his imported Eastern Bloc weapons. He was also a regular advertiser and, as a small independent company, we really appreciated his support over many years.” 

It is often thought that travelling around the world searching for surplus military items is a glamorous occupation. In some areas of the world, it is an extremely hazardous occupation yet despite his age, Tony regularly travelled to the former Soviet Union to examine and purchase weapons for Ryton Arms. Shortly before his untimely death, both Tony and Janet had been attending Gun Shows in the USA and over the weekend prior to his death, they had both attended the Militaria 2010 event at Stoneleigh.

It was with a heavy heart that I and many of the original Budge Collection team attended Tony’s funeral in Retford on 12 February 2010. It is perhaps a fitting testimony that as I write these words, tanks and other military vehicles are being restored in the original workshops in West Carr Road. 

Bob Fleming
Co-ordinator, Budge Collection 1984-1994 

Joe was born in 1924 in Richmond, Surrey. During the war he was intrigued by the Jeeps that he saw driven by Canadian and American soldiers and resolved that one day he would own one. It took him another 20 years but, in 1962, Joe bought his first Jeep… from a film company!

He used the Jeep as his second car during the summer, but took it off the road and started to restore it to its original military spec during the cold winter of 1962/63. Other Jeeps followed and he entered three in the HCVS London to Brighton run in 1968, taking all three prizes in the military class.

Since the end of the war, Joe had been involved in running the family business, the New Beach Holiday Camp at Earnley near Chichester. The Earnley site meant that Joe was immune from the usual storage problems and by 1973, his collection had grown to 20 vehicles. Not surprisingly, Earnley had become the focus for other enthusiasts in the area, and dressed in US 5th Army uniforms whenever they attended vehicle shows, Joe’s informal group became known as Lyndhurst’s Army.

When the holiday camp was sold in 1974, Joe used his share of the proceeds to buy Tyldens at Durford Hill, Horsham. He had big plans for Tyldens and at Easter 1976, re-opened Tyldens as the Warnham War Museum.

Joe and his wife, Yvonne, ran both the Museum and the restaurant.

As word spread among enthusiasts, the Warnham War Museum began to acquire near-legendary status. Back then, large private collections were unusual, private museums even more so. Aside from the ‘official’ collections held at places such as the IWM and the Tank Museum, Warnham was one of the few locations where enthusiasts and the general public could see a display of WW2 vehicles together with literally hundreds of other WW2 artifacts.

When I bought my first military vehicle in 1980, Warnham was one of the first places that I took it and I can still remember picnicking in the field at the back of the site… though I also recall that the restaurant did a fine line in afternoon teas. I will also confess to you that in 1980 I persuaded my new wife that we should spend one day of our honeymoon at Warnham…

In 1983, Joe wrote the definitive book on military collectables which was published by Salamander, even today, it remains a sought-after guide to this fascinating topic.

The collection continued to grow and expand and Warnham began to host a monthly militaria sale and the occasional auction. As inevitably happens, the collection grew too big for the Lyndhursts to manage and, eventually, the only sensible course of action was to sell-up. Today Tyldens is a nursing home and the collection has been distributed across the world. Curiously, the militaria fairs continue… albeit at nearby Kingsfold.

After a short spell in hospital, Joe died on 14 August 2000. During his 40 years of involvement with the movement he had seen the military vehicle world change beyond all recognition… but his passing has left it considerably poorer.

Joe was a real enthusiast. Generous with his time and his knowledge and always ready to lend a hand. He was almost certainly responsible for encouraging many to collect and restore military vehicles and Joe is a worthy recipient of the Bart Vanderveen Challenge Shield.

Sadly his widow Yvonne was not well enough to be at the show but a long time friend of Joe, George Kimmins, kindly agreed to accept the award on his behalf.
- Courtesy of Pat Ware, CMV Magazine

2006 Preston Isaac - Founder of the Cobbaton Combat Museum

Well known to many as the Founder of one of the UK's finest military vehicle museums and Chairman of the MVT, Preston Isaac is this year's worthy winner.

After eventually settling on the World War II period with British, Canadian and Commonwealth as his main interest, Preston bought a tracked vehicle, a Windsor Carrier, this was quickly joined by a Centaur Tank and a Churchill from Pound's fabled yard in Portsmouth. With typical understatement Preston explains these were quite a challenge to fix after 20 years in a scrap yard.

Housed in two hangers the collection has grown enormously, now including more than 50 military vehicles and artillery pieces and thousands of smaller items from 1939-45. The displays, even the spaces between the buildings, are deliberately cluttered. This is partly because Preston wants to recreate a feeling of homeliness. For many men all they had was their vehicle.

He rationalises the collection by saying that 'we owe it to previous generations to preserve what is left from the period which has been called Britain's finest hour'.
- Courtesy of CMV Magazine

2008 Jack Beckett - Creator of Historic Military Vehicle Forum (HMVF)

New to the hobby in 2005, and with a background in farming and forestry that hardly augered well for the restoration of a WW2 truck, Jack bought a GMC. He freely admits that it was a shot in the dark and that, without the internet, he had little idea where to look.

He made contact with me as editor of Classic Military Vehicle magazine in 2006 and we ran a series of short articles describing the experiences of this virgin soldier. Like many true enthusiasts who have gone before him, Jack’s work on the truck started the unending quest for knowledge. ‘What is this... where do I find that... were these used here... has anyone encountered this problem?’ He stumbled across a website based in the USA called cckw.com and found the format to be extremely helpful.

No such forum existed in the UK and, undeterred by the fact that he was almost as new to computers as he was to GMCs, Jack resolved that he would create a web forum for all military vehicle enthusiasts... not to replace the existing clubs... they have a valuable role to play... but to allow enthusiasts to make direct contact with one another across the world-wide web in real time.

There are those who claim that ignorance is bliss and that if Jack had had any idea of the difficulties he faced then perhaps he would not have been quite so enthusiastic. Inevitably the early days were rocky and he hit a low point when the company hosting the site deleted the account with the prospect of three years hard work being totally lost. And I mean really hard work. I understand that Jack spends a minimum of 40 hours a week on the forum.

But in the two years since it has been established HMVF has gone from strength to strength thanks largely to Jack’s enthusiasm and energy. There are currently 1100 members and last month the site received 50,000 visitors. The site encourages contact between members and like some perverse green machine dating agency has brought people with similar interests together.

Jack is considering expanding the forum by adding what he describes as HMVF TV and Radio brands which, once established, may become central to the hobby and which will attract younger, computer-aware enthusiasts to this interest which we all love so much.

Jack says that the purchase of the GMC changed his life but inevitably the HMVF has changed it at least as much again. These days he has less time to spend on the truck... but as many have found, that is one of the perils of turning your hobby into work. Let’s hope that Jack doesn’t start looking for another hobby because the military vehicle world would be the poorer without his energy and enthusiasm.
- Courtesy of CMV Magazine

The Dickie Dover Trophy - Major Dover, membership number 82, was a founder member and first President of IMPS.

The Buster Smith Trophy - Buster (Richard) Smith, membership number 25, was a founder member of IMPS who did much to get the club started.

The Paul Sutton Trophy - Paul Sutton, membership number 72, and his wife Val were early members of IMPS. Paul was involved with Tenterden Steam Railway and he helped in the early club shows that were held there.

The Ray Ireland Trophy - Ray Ireland, membership number 262. This trophy was orignally presented at Waldershare Park Show but later his widow asked IMPS to present it to the Best Self Restored Vehicle in our annual show. Ray's brother Ernie is still an active member of IMPS.

The Tracklink Award - At a committee meeting in early 1991 it was decided to set up this award.

The Roadsure Award formerly The A.C. Miles Award - Best Artillery

The Fighting Rover Trophy - Best Landrover

The Tired Iron Truck Services Trophy - Best U.S. Vehicle was donated to the Invicta Military Vehicle Preservation Society for use at its annual show, now the War and Peace Show, by Rex and Rod Cadman, membership number 593, in 1990 in recognition of the amount of American vehicles that The Tired Iron Truck's workshops were turning out for military vehicle enthusiasts which were then being exhibited at club shows.

The Dougie Preece Award - Best Presented Stall was inaugurated after the untimely passing of popular stallholder Dougie Preece in his memory by Rex Cadman of The War and Peace Show and Brent Pollard of The Hop Farm Country Park.

The Jake Elliott Trophy - Best Young Exhibitor

The Audrey Award - Best Ambulance

The Antonie Rijsterborgh Award - Best Jeep

The Dale Prior Memorial Award - is for any variant of the Humber 1-Ton FV1600 series that combines originality with good maintenance