The Heritage Buddy

 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 ...

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 ...