The Heritage Buddy

It's a big year for Trafalgar Day - 2025 marks 220 years since this epic moment in naval history. You’re probably wondering: what does HMS Belfast have to do with Trafalgar Day? The straight answer is, there is no direct connection between her and HMS Victory, which despite being a museum ship (which is what they have in common) in Lord Nelson’s memory and being permanently dry docked, is still in commission with the Royal Navy for over 200 years. 21st October 1805 The Royal Navy, commanded by Vice Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson aboard his flagship, HMS Victory, literally broke the mighty line made up of the combined fleet of the French and Spanish navies. This was the Royal Navy’s greatest achievement in history, but sadly as King George III claimed, we had lost more than we had gained; although a great victory had been won, the story includes the tragic loss of Lord Nelson, after being shot by a French sniper. 21st October is a special occasion for the Royal Navy because that day, i...

I got up at 4am due to crippling anxiety driven by my OCD, just so I can take on the necessary last minute organising. A taxi my father had booked picked us up at 5:30am to take us to London Gatwick. After getting through security, we had breakfast at Wagamama, then sat and waited for the gate number while I charged my phone in a charging port as it hadn’t charged fully overnight.  I am a nervous flyer; I only had my Frankenstein cat plushie from HMS Belfast as a comfort item, as well as a good book to keep me entertained. My adrenaline kicked in as soon as the cabin door closed and the gangway disconnected. It’s take off I find the most nerve wracking (self-explanatory), but as soon as we were at cruising height, I felt calm, then read a couple of chapters of my book whilst sipping on coffee served by the cabin crew as I didn’t get a chance to buy some at the airport.  Once we had landed, (bounced like Tigger as soon as the wheels hit the runway!!) and got through the process...

Did you know that lavender has been used for many different purposes throughout history? The inspiration for this blog post came from when my mother, who works as a gardener on a private estate, brought home a whole bunch of lavender sprigs for me to harvest and keep the buds for my embroidered lavender bags I like to craft.  Above: My harvesting process and my filling lavender jar on my Instagram story. As we know, lavender is a purple flower that blooms in season from late May through to mid-July, and is harvested from late July through to early September. It is known for its sweet and relaxing scent that is beneficial for stress, anxiety, depression and sleep-related difficulties, which is most commonly used for in this modern day, but can also be infused as a herbal tea. (Yes, lavender is also considered a medicinal herb, there will be more on that later in the post).  Traditional uses of lavender include aromatic (for scent inhalation), carminative (helps relieve flatulen...

During a gym workout session when taking a brisk walk on the treadmill, I received a WhatApp message from my father saying his colleague is doing a research project on an abandoned RAF and US Army Air Force (USSAF) airfield in Essex, and is inviting me along on the project.   I met with my father's colleague soon after; he explained the history of the airfield on how it was one of the airfield for the Americans during Britain's alliance during the Second World War, then the RAF came in later. Despite being operational for only two years, the airfield also played a part on D-Day with the Glider Pilot Regiment, then onto Operation Market Garden (Battle of Arnhem), followed by the Rhine Crossing (Operation Varsity).  A month later after holidaying and day trips, I booked myself into Imperial War Museum's research facility and requested to look at Bruce Stait's book, Rivenhall: An Essex Airfield and some documents to see what I could learn about the airfield. I then bought ...