Membership
Kompanie 1 is one of the UK's leading WWII Re-enactment societies and has a wide membership including current and former members of the armed services. It is also one of the more relaxed and friendly.

Annual membership is:

  Adult £30  
  Family £50 (includes two adults plus £10 each additional family member)
  Under 18s £20 (anyone under 16 must be accompanied to events by parent/guardian)

Membership renewal is at the start of January each year.

Members of Kompanie 1 receive:

Annual membership of Kompanie 1.
Public Liability Insurance at all Kompanie 1 recognised events.
Free entry into most of the UK's major re-enactment events.
Training and access to the accumulated knowledge of the membership of Kompanie 1.
Access to the members only site.

Kompanie 1 welcomes all membership enquires. Applications for single membership from those under the age of 18 years must be accompanied by the written permission of a parent or guardian.  Please note, many organisers will not allow those under the age of 18 years to take part in a battle for insurance reasons.

Our society reserves the right to refuse membership and will not accept applications from those that express a political agenda.

There are several different types of event that Kompanie1 will attend. These can be very varied in content and depth.

Railway Events
These are generally laid back, fun events where members get to ride up and down the line entertaining the public with a few wartime rules and regulations to try to give them an idea of restrictions imposed 60 years ago.

There is usually a minor battle put on for the benefit of the public at these events, which is usually well received. Most events of this type have a social evening for re-enactors and public alike on the evening.

Major Events
These include The War and Peace show in Kent (just about the biggest of its type in the world) and Military Odyssey at Detling. At these events you will get to see re-enactors from many periods of the world's conflicts over a long time span.

At this event and similar, Kompanie 1 members can be involved with the complete living history display, that is to eat, sleep and try to do everything as a group of soldiers all as part of the display. Much of the equipment used in this display is genuine WW2.

These events hold a major battle every day that includes the use of elaborate pyrotechnic effects and restored vehicles, so you will get to see tanks, motorcycles, lorries and halftracks all being used in the context of a battle scenario.

General Public Events
These lie somewhere in between the events explained above, the living history takes place but in a more relaxed manner. Because there is more room than at railway events the displays and battles are larger (though smaller than at major events).

Examples of this type of event are: Waltham Abbey (Royal Gunpowder Mills) and Bushey Hall (wartime HQ of the US 8th air force). Once again there is generally a good social event in the evenings.

Private Events
Kompanie 1 attends private events/battles a few times every year. These are totally different to public events in that we get to practice our drills and living history without the pressure of having members of the public around. This is necessary so that we as a group can put on good and accurate show at public events. These events are usually held out of the public season (October to December and January to April) so can be wet and cold.

The private events are usually set around a wartime scenario or battle that actually took place (Battle of the Bulge, Heurtgen Forest etc).

There are of course events that do not fall within any of these categories for various reasons and these tend to be of the more laid back type where we, as re-enactors, have some fun as well as putting on a display for the public. One of the benefits of KP1 as a group is that we treat the events as fun for us as well as the public so there is not too much drill and everyone from the highest rank and most experienced to the newest member mucks in when there is work to be done.

KP1 gives good value for its membership fee when you take into account the diversity of units within the group and the different types of event that we attend. There is no other independent group in the country that offers the range of units from different countries that we do and there should be something suitable for everyone.

Overseas Trips
Thanks to the internet and the world wide community of re-enactors, it is becoming more common that Kompanie 1 members are invited to take part in events overseas. These can include battles (usually involving large amounts of authentic vehicles), trips to original battle locations and places of great historic interest and importance.

Kompanie 1 © 1997-2013 All photographs on this site were taken by and are copyright of Kompanie 1 members.
Due to the nature of the photographs, some of the people and vehicles involved may be from other groups.