The Heritage Buddy

The coastal village of Gwithian in Cornwall, situated in St Ives Bay, is home to the iconic Godrevy Lighthouse, National Trust site of Godrevy Farm and home to a number of places for food and drink, including Sunset Surf and The Jam Pot Cafe. A short walk along St Gothian Sands behind Gwithian Beach takes you to the residential village, where there’s a camping and caravan site and a pub, the Red River Inn. Only next door to the Red River Inn is St Gothian’s Church (also known as Gwithian Church) which works closely with St Elwyn’s in Hayle. The church is open for visitors every day, as well as offering Sunday church services. I came to visit some war memorials whereby there’s three at the church; one tablet outside in the porch and the other two are inside as a painting with a roll of honour and a stained glass window, including five Commonwealth War Graves in the graveyard. St Gothian’s Church is your typical small village church that’s very small and cute, carrying cottagecore vibes....

I stepped out of Portsmouth Harbour train station one freezing cold Saturday afternoon in January this year. I was slowly making my way to my hotel and stopped to admire how beautiful HMS Warrior looked against the winter sunset over the harbour, so I sat down on a bench to bring myself out of anxiety about getting lost, shutting down or dissociating and losing awareness of my surroundings and into the present. After a moment, I noticed an obelisk with HMS Royal Oak inscribed on it; I quickly learnt it was a memorial commemorating the 85th anniversary of the sinking of HMS Royal Oak. I knew I had to take some photos for some volunteering. (This memorial will be discussed in a future post - watch this space!) 😀 The reason I was visiting Portsmouth was because I am a board member at the National Museum of the Royal Navy and our board was encouraged to visit for branding reasons. After spending a couple of hours chilling in my hotel room by video-calling family to let them know ...