Membership

Membership of The Vanguard Centre allows us to put more money towards improving the venue and the services that we offer.

Benefits of membership include:

• public liability insurance cover
• discounts for attendance at events organised by the Academy of Historical Arts
• discounts on equipment purchases through the Academy of Historical Arts shop
• membership of a pro-active umbrella organisation with a vested interest in developing and improving the HEMA community in the United Kingdom

The purpose of membership, first and foremost, is supporting the Centre! The school has invested quite a significant amount of money in loaner equipment for new members, and there are always financial obligations of various kinds for any sort of school or organisation, as well as the on-going desire to make the Centre a better experience for everyone.

For example, we would like to make the venue even warmer during the colder months, we would like to install changing rooms, and we would like to make the social area even more comfortable and enjoyable. It would be great if we could build our library of HEMA, archery, and blacksmithing books (and really, any other books of interest!) for members to browse. Membership payments will help us achieve these goals.

Sign Up for Membership

Membership Fee

We do request that you become a member of our Centre after attending two or three sessions.

Terms & Conditions, and Refunds Policy

Cancellations & Refunds

You may request to cancel your membership of The Vanguard Centre at any time. This request must be in writing, via some reasonably permanent medium: an email to the organisation would be acceptable, but a Facebook message is not suitable. We will cancel your membership within a week of receiving your request in writing.

When you cancel your membership, you will no longer be a Member, and you will instead be a guest whenever you attend one of our activities, sessions, or events. You will not receive any of the discounts or benefits for being a Member anymore.

If you cancel your membership within two weeks (fourteen days) of paying for it, we will provide you a full refund, unless you have used your membership to attend a session, receive a discount, or utilise any of the other advantages or benefits of membership. In other words, we can only refund a membership that has been unused.

Definitions

The Academy of Historical Arts may be referred to hereafter as “the Academy” or “the AHA”.

The “term of subscription” is one calendar year from the moment the subscription payment is made.

Data Protection

We will keep your personal information to ourselves and will not distribute it to any third party. The data will be treated confidentially in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.

We shall use an accredited third-party service to collect the payment, so that the service is PCI compliant and the payment will be taken securely. We will not see your card or bank details unless you choose to show them to us. Your data will be kept safe, secure, and private.

Waiver

All Members of The Vanguard Centre must agree to the following terms: in consideration of obtaining membership to The Vanguard Centre and practising/performing any skills learned through the experience with programmes, courses, classes, related events and activities run by the organisation, all applicants must agree to the following:

1) I acknowledge and fully recognise that each participant will be engaging in activities that involve risk of injury.

2) I assume all the foregoing risks and accept personal responsibility for the damages following ay such injury.

3) I release, waive, discharge and covenant not to sue the Academy of Historical Arts, The Vanguard Centre, their respective administrators, directors, agents, instructors, and other members of the organisation, other participants, sponsoring agencies, sponsors, advertisers, or any other party associated with the above as regards to any and all incidents coming from participation in these activities.

4) I understand that the AHA, event producers, sponsors, organisers, and/or assigns may take my photograph. I agree that my photograph, including video photography, film photography, or other reproduction of my likeness, may be used without charge by the AHA, event producers, sponsors, organisers and/or assigns for any purpose as they deem appropriate, including, but not limited to, promotional materials, fundraising presentations or proposals, or posting on a website for promotional purposes.

5) I understand that the Academy of Historical Arts, The Vanguard Centre, and their representatives may ask for a copy of any media that I take or record during an event or meeting run by the organisation; I agree to provide the organisation with such media when requested. I also grant permission to the photographer and to the Academy of Historical Arts,The Vanguard Centre, Fallen Rook Publishing, and Triquetra Services (Scotland), to use this media freely. Similarly, I agree that the photographer and the aforementioned organisations may use for any purpose any media in which I appear.