The Heritage Buddy

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...

 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 ...

 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...