
Peter Burton
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Two Barbados Tourist films one from the 1960s and one from the 1970s
A look back in time. We recently came across these two Barbados Tourist Board promotional films: Barbados West Indian Wonderland from the 1960s and Magic Isle from the 1970s. Enjoy the nostalgia of these two promotional films. The first film is a Barbados Tourist Board film from the 1960s, promotes Barbados as a tourist destination,…

Bill Hern
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Windrush 75 – Pioneers & Champions
The HMT Empire Windrush is best remembered for bringing one of the first large groups of post-war Commonwealth citizens from the Caribbean to the UK in June 1948. The ship’s name is used to denote what in the UK is known as the Windrush Generation. These are the estimated 500,000 Commonwealth citizens who immigrated from…

Peter Burton
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The Bush Teas of Barbados – Iris Bayley
Patricia Bayley Mull sent us this pre-publication copy of her mother’s work on The Barbados Bush Teas. This paper was published in 1949 see: “The Bush-Teas of Barbados” by Iris Bayley, The Journal of The Barbados Museum and Historical Society – Vol. XVI No. 3 (May 1949). Iris Bayley is also referred to as Iris…

Katharine Campbell
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Errol Barrow and his commanding officer Sholto Douglas
This is the story of the deep bond that developed between Errol Barrow and his commanding officer Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir William Sholto Douglas who was the Military Governor of Germany after World War II. From 1945 to 1947 Errol Barrow served as a Navigator within the Commander-in-Chief, Military Governor’s Flight with…

David O’Carroll OBE
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Reflections: Col. Duke’s Morris 8
The great thing about BajanThings is that the articles often trigger memories of Bajan days gone by. BajanThings reader Mark Layne wrote from Nova Scotia having read the article: “The Duke Affair – A West Indian versus the colonial establishment“, about Colonel Duke who was summarily dismissed by a new Governor in 1948 – the…

Peter Burton
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World Fuel crisis, fuel poverty in 2022
[Updated Aug 2023 with actual results of savings for period August 2022 to August 2023 – skip to end for results.] 2022 is the year of the world energy crisis. The cost of gas and electricity has skyrocketed. From the COVID-19 pandemic crisis over the last two years we have moved to Putin’s Ukraine annexation…

David O’Carroll OBE
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Freya Stark (married name: Perowne)
Dame Freya Madeline Stark DBE (31 January 1893 – 9 May 1993), was a British explorer and travel writer. She was the wife of the Barbados Colonial Secretary Stewart Perowne and was one of five passengers who travelled in May 1948 from Barbados to Trinidad to join the Empire Windrush for its historic passage to…

Simon Kreindler
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Peddlers All: Stories of the First Ashkenazi Jewish Settlers in Barbados
In 1932, three Polish Jews, Moses Altman, his niece, Dina Mass, and her husband, Moses Mass, arrived in Barbados looking for refuge from the harsh economic conditions and anti-Semitism in Europe. Moses Altman’s wife and children (Henry, Simon, Edna (Pillersdorf), Doris (Kaplan) and Mary (Speisman) arrived not long after and were followed by the families…

William Burton
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Barbados transitions to a Republic – the Republic of Barbados
On 30th November 2021, fifty-five years after independence from Britain, Barbados will transition from a Constitutional Monarchy to being a Parliamentary Republic – the Republic of Barbados. The Queen’s representative Governor-General Dame Sandra Mason, GCMG, DA, QC will become the first President of Barbados. Her role will be mostly ceremonial, much like her current role…

Peter Burton
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Andromeda Gardens – the location of a covert US Navy cold-war submarine tracking station in Barbados from 1954 to 1985/87
The US Navy NAVFAC Barbados at Harrison’s Point, St. Lucy was operational from 1957 to 1979. Did you know there was another, hush – hush and “covert” NAVFAC cold-war submarine tracking facility located in Barbados from 1954 to 1985/87. It was located within the workshop of Dr. Harry Bayley’s bay-house at Andromeda in St. Joseph.…
