The Heritage Buddy

 Following on from my VE Day performance at my autism group (read here) , I offered to my peers and their friends and family if I could perform some heritage interpretation at any events they may run; I then got an act up and running again when I was invited to perform at an inclusive music festival (as well as selling some of my arts and crafts).  With my first VE Day performance being a drag-act (despite having a uniform I considered gender neutral from being a Civil Defence uniform and it was a uniform designed for women) and with the second I performed to the age group below me in a dress inspired by Vera Lynn's White Cliffs of Dover (referencing my autism group's talent show in 2017 when I performed that song in honour of her 100th birthday), I spent a good bit of time debating whether it would be drag or dress (one of the most difficult decisions to make as a non-binary genderfluid reenactor).  I happened to be scrolling on Instagram when I discovered a fellow reena...

8th May 1945 - Churchill announced Germany’s surrender marking Victory in Europe Day. ✌🏻 🇬🇧 8th May 2025 - marking the 80th anniversary of VE Day. I was so stuck for ideas of how I’ll celebrate whether that’ll be a living history object handling session or demonstration or hosting a tea or street party. I liked the idea of a wartime singalong karaoke session to overcome my vocal insecurities as an actor, but why not do a mini drag performance for my autism group with some costumed interpretation? The original idea was Home Guard or British Tommy, but finding a uniform was not only mega expensive, but also difficult to find the right size as the measurements of the outfits I looked at would be too big for me (surely there could be one out there equivalent to a modern day XS or S in men’s size or uniform designed to fit a teen boy soldier or a solider of a small build). I stumbled upon a Civil Defence ambulance women’s uniform, so I then had an idea of playing an air raid warden that ...