BajanThings eight years on…

When Peter and I sat down with a beer and discussed the possibility of starting a website in December 2014 neither of us expected BajanThings would grow to the comprehensive source of information about Barbados that it has become. Some of the articles have become a source of information for researchers. Some articles have gathered information from many different sources and put it in one place for the first time.

Our family and friends were the first subscribers and the first articles were some test post about Bajan recipes and my travels. Eight years on we have published nearly 170 posts!

We have stayed away from religion, politics and interpreting history according to our view. We write the facts and leave the reader to form their own opinion. We think that this is important.

Some of the articles are researched in depth and take countless hours of research. Between the first notes and the publication can be years. Others are shorter and leave it to the reader to do further research, if they wish.

BajanThings is a hobby site. Peter spends countless hours working on the website. It is a labour of love and the token revenue we receive from Google ads does not even pay the website hosting and registry fees far less buying us a few beers!

We have been very fortunate to have guest writers who have made available their extensive research. Thanks to each and every one of them.

Over the last two years we have been honoured and very pleased to publish comprehensive research from:

• Bill Hern
• Craig Burleigh – Barbados Island Life
• David O’Carroll
• Jenny Gonsalves
• Jim Webster
• John Fraser
• John Knox
• Kim Johnson
• Lynda Lewis & Jim Webster
• Roger Gibbs
• Simon Kriendler

We welcome anyone who has a story on bygone Barbados to write it and send it to us. Or if you have additional information on an existing article add it as a comment. This will add to the article, sometimes from a different perspective.

Some of the articles have put Bajans, or people connected with Barbados, in contact with family or events that occurred many years ago. We are especially proud of this.

Below are the top posts from 2022 and the all-time top posts. Missing from the listing below is our most recent post on Rediffusion Barbados published on Christmas eve 2022.

Ranking	Top posts in 2022	All-time top posts
1	Peddlers All: Stories of the First Ashkenazi Jewish Settlers in Barbados	Bajan Seasoning (Test post)
2	The Printed Maps of Barbados 1500 – 1900	Bajan Hot Pepper Sauce (Test Post)
3	Prince Albert and Prince George visit Barbados while Midshipmen aboard HMS Bacchante in 1879	Hiking in Barbados | Run246 | The Barbados Hiking Association (BHA)
4	Ronnie Hughes: Barbadian Sugar Plantations Index 1640 – 1846	Bajan Rum Punch (Test post)
5	Bajan Flying Fish (Test post)	How “badjohn became a word”
6	F/O Errol Barrow RAF Navigator World War II & Prime Minister of Barbados	Thor Heyerdahl’s Ra Expeditions to Barbados: RA-I 1969, RA-II 1970
7	Hurricane Janet – 22 September 1955	Bajan Flying Fish (Test post)
8	Handbook of Barbados: Plantations & Sugar-Works 1912 – 1924	St. Philip, Barbados in the 1950s & 1960s. A very brief recollection of the people and events
9	Bajan Hot Pepper Sauce (Test post)	Torpedoing of the Cornwallis in Carlisle Bay, Barbados, 11th September 1942
10	How “badjohn became a word”	Millie gone to Brazil, Oh Lawd, poor Millie
11	Remembering EIIR 1926 – 2022	The Colin Hudson Great (Barbados) Train Hike
12	High Altitude Research Project (HARP) 1962 – 1967	The Printed Maps of Barbados 1500 – 1900
13	Andromeda Gardens – the location of a covert US Navy cold-war submarine tracking station in Barbados from 1954 to 1985/87	F/O Errol Barrow RAF Navigator World War II & Prime Minister of Barbados
14	Do You Want The Truth Or Something Beautiful? The Empire Windrush story.	Hurricane Janet – 22 September 1955
15	The game of Warri	Chicken Rita’s. Where Bajan’s go for seasoned fried chicken!
16	Thor Heyerdahl’s Ra Expeditions to Barbados: RA-I 1969, RA-II 1970	High Altitude Research Project (HARP) 1962 – 1967
17	Torpedoing of the Cornwallis in Carlisle Bay, Barbados, 11th September 1942	A Fisherman’s Tale
18	Millie gone to Brazil, Oh Lawd, poor Millie	Ronnie Hughes: Barbadian Sugar Plantations Index 1640 – 1846
19	The Gardens of St. Thomas – Friends’ equality even in death	Handbook of Barbados: Plantations & Sugar-Works 1912 – 1924
20	Major Teddy Goddard – a Bajan policeman from below the cliff	Lord Nelson’s statue – Bridgetown, Barbados
21	A Fisherman’s Tale	Barbados Oceanographic Research Facility 1957 – 1979: a top secret US cold war submarine listening post
22	Barbados Island Life	Football (soccer) in Barbados in the 1950s & 1960s
23	Banja in Barbados and its influence on calypso throughout the West Indies	How they came to Barbados and found no men therein…
24	Plantation Life in Barbados in the 1950s	Andromeda Gardens – the location of a covert US Navy cold-war submarine tracking station in Barbados from 1954 to 1985/87
25	The Man Who Carved a Lion. The story of Henry John Wilkinson 1829 – 1911	The Seimstrand, St. Vincent & The Grenadines
26	Kai Tak airport, Hong Kong – the Bajan connection	St. Philip, Barbados in the 1950’s & 1960’s. Growing up in Wellhouse and Marley Vale in the 1960’s
27	Lord Nelson’s statue – Bridgetown, Barbados	Anti Submarine & Torpedo Net – Carlisle Bay, Barbados 1942
28	Four days up and twenty days down – The Small World crossing of the Atlantic December 1958	Richard Goddard – 1935 to 2021
29	Hiking in Barbados | Run246 | The Barbados Hiking Association (BHA)	Operation Carlota – Cuba’s secret flights to Angola via Barbados
30	The Barbados Trailways Project Part 2 – the beginning of the refurbishment	Peddlers All: Stories of the First Ashkenazi Jewish Settlers in Barbados

A full listing of the all the posts on BajanThings can be found by clicking on Posts Index on the navigation menu.

As a new year dawns we wish to thank all of our subscribers and wish each one gets everything that they need. Hopefully, by this time in 2023 the world will be a more peaceful and healthier place.

We wish you a healthy and Happy 2023 from the BajanThings Crew.

William Burton & Peter Burton
BajanThings – All things Barbadian. Bajan history. Bajan folklore. Interesting Bajan people. Hiking in Barbados and overseas

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