The Heritage Buddy

​It’s been 85 years… (yep, pun intended)! Today I knew I needed to write a blog post, as well as make some art of this fine ship’s crest, using a mix of watercolours and Indian ink on this boiling hot day.  With Following Winds is the English translation from HMS Hood's Latin motto: Ventis Secundis.  85 years ago today, the Royal Navy lost their dear ship, HMS Hood. Launched on 22nd August 1918 at John Brown and Co shipyard on the Clyde by Lady Hood, the widow of Admiral Sir Horace Hood who died at the Battle of Jutland in 1918 and commissioned in 1920.  Source: HMS Hood Association  Was this Admiral-class battlecruiser named after Horace Hood?  No, she was actually named after First Viscount Samuel Hood - another notable naval officer.  Read more about Samuel Hood here.  However, Horace Hood may have inspired the name.  On 24th May 1941, HMS Hood was sunk by the German battleship KMS Bismarck; the Bismarck shot a shell that landed a direct hit on...

​Not long after my nan passed away last year, she had left a lot of family history behind, including the amount of keepsakes she kept. This gave my mother a good excuse to make good use of her Ancestry subscription that me and my sisters bought her for her birthday. We already knew that my paternal great grandfather was a construction worker and his family owned and ran a construction business in the heart of my borough; my father once drove us around the neighbourhood he helped to build pre-WW1, or at some point in the very early Edwardian era. After beginning a long process of clearing out my nan’s house, he brought home his equestrian trophies and rosettes, we did already know he was a keen horse rider, as well as a construction worker, as my father looked into his family history a quite a while ago. There was also a business directory of all the local public services and businesses, which did include my great grandfather’s construction company which was located next to one of the ...

Kent is a county FULL of history; from the Roman Villa at Lullingstone, to Medieval christian pilgrimage routes to Rochester or Canterbury, to hop farming county-wide and brewing ale to the spitfires dogfighting the Luftwaffe in the skies above.  Whilst volunteering remotely for the Imperial War Museum's War Memorial Register, I learnt about a hidden treasure in Sevenoaks that I had to go and see for myself.  Cornwall Hall Auxiliary Hospital Cornwall Hall was an VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) Hospital set up in September 1914, which were located anywhere, including local churches, schools and community settings.  The ex-VAD hospital was located at The Drive Methodist Church in Sevenoaks; if you cross the car park to the left of the church building, there is the church hall, which is still named Cornwall Hall (pictured below). It was managed by nurse Kathleen Mansfield, Commandant of the VAD 76 Hospital.  A brass tablet is mounted up on the wall on the right as you co...

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 Happy New Year!  2025 has had its ups and downs for me, but I have made so many memories big and small. There is some separate content for some of them (with the link I will list below) and the others I haven't written about, I'll provide a small paragraph as it is about lots of little things.  Rather than chronological order which is relatively easy, I am going to provide my Top 10 moments of 2025:  10 - Joining HMS Belfast Association  Being an ex-activity facilitating volunteer hoping to return; I joined  HMS Belfast Association as a volunteer. It is mainly for the ship’s veterans and their families, but anyone with a connection to the ship can join as an associate member.  I hope to learn more about the dear queen of the town-class light cruisers, as well as her animal mascots, particularly Frankenstein, which I have big plans for a special project! Watch this space for more! 😉 9 - Nautical sing-along Not quite like Falmouth Sea Shanty Festival ...

 You may have heard of Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman and South Park's Mr Hanky, now get ready for... Squiffy the Christmas Spitfire! I bought this spitfire plush decoration from Imperial War Museum for the Christmas tree, whilst decorating it, I flew it around and knew I had to name it. The name Squiffy came from the Monty Python RAF Pilot sketch, as this word is suited well when pronounced by a stereotypical RAF pilot!  Happy Christmas! 🎄  Do you have a special character you associate with Christmas or what is your favourite holiday activity? Please share it with me!  I would love to wish all my friends, family, colleagues and fellow living historians/reenactors/costumed interpreters a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous 2026!