My interest in militaria especially World War 2 extends over a 20 year period. I bought my first piece of militaria at the tender age of 10. I started collecting British items then moved onto American and now I am back collecting British militaria again.Over the years I have been involved with most of the different aspects of WW2 collecting scene, I owned and restored a 1944 Ford GPW Jeep which I attend many shows in for over 10 years. I visited many events in the UK and abroad including the 50th D-Day commemoration. I was also involved with other group members of 39/45 M.V.G who were interested in living history which intern lead to the creation of The "Summer of 44" living history group which further lead onto attending events as a living history re-enactor and then onto takin g part in battle re-enactment with other friends from Bletchley Park. I have assisted several people with books and information regarding the WW2 period by supplying original items of equipment in particular Harlan Glenn's "For King and Country", book about British Airborne Forces.
Getting Going (How HT&C Started)
As a result of personal circumstances, I decided to combine the skills from my former vocation with those of my many years of collecting and as a result use my knowledge and experience to manufacture a high quality "Collectors Grade" range of reproduction items. At the outset this took over 2 years of planning to source the right materials and fitting to make these products. When I started collecting most of the items that I now offer as reproductions of were readily available at quite reasonable prices, however with time the increased interested in WW2 the price of items has sky rocketed. I begin to seriously collect items when i was in my early twenties and at that time reproductions of British and American items were few and far between, most items around at that time were deliberately faked up to appear like originals, however as time has gone on reproduction items have now become a growing market as certain original items are just too expensive to use for living history or re-enactment as they may get damaged. The need for reproduction items these days reflects how the hobby has changed since I started, there is a much bigger emphasis on living history and re-enactment than 20 years ago. As with many things reproductions of WW2 items vary much in authenticity and quality and as a collector I was surprised at the standard and quality of products available in the UK. As a result I thought I would try and offer my own range of products which I approached from a former collectors point of view and not just a dealer.
