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Bringing HMS Belfast to Communities

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I am proud to share that I have completed and delivered my first EVER living history workshop outside of my autism group as a session lasting at least 20 minutes (which again, I would like to bring these workshops to the younger age groups as part of their programme) or a brief 10-15 minute festival act.  It all started as a new year's goal!  Finding opportunities to deliver living history and costumed interpretation workshops in communities was one of my top aspirations for this year; the idea hit me last year after visiting Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and meeting a costumed interpreter acting as Jackie Fisher (father of the Dreadnoughts and known for the first use of OMG) when he served on HMS Warrior as Lieutenant, then meeting the volunteers at the Mary Rose Museum who were in period costume, then the inspiration hit me -  how about I bring costumed interpretation and living history into my volunteering? I was lucky to have the honour of providing some wartime e...
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St Ives Museum Visit

 ​ As I was going to St. Ives, I met a man with seven wives, Each wife had seven sacks, Each sack had seven cats, Each cat had seven kits: Kits, cats, sacks, and wives, How many were there going to St. Ives?  -Anon.  Looking through the War Memorial Register as a volunteer for the Imperial War Museums, I noticed a glazed and framed Roll of Honour on the system housed at St Ives Museum. I have been to St Ives before and walked past the museum a good few times, but never went in.  Under 16’s go free and it’s £5 per person over 16. A volunteer very kindly introduced me to the museum’s collection 
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85th Anniversary of the Sinking of HMS Hood - Including HMS Belfast’s link with HMS Hood

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​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...
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My Family History: Wartime Roots on My Father's Side

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​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 ...
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