I have in my temporary possession a second world war British helmet worn by a soldier murdered in the Le Paradis Massacre on 27th May, 1940.
I have written about the massacre many times in the past and if you would like to find out more about it have a look at our official website at www.leparadismassacre.com.
Ninety nine soldiers from the Royal Norfolk and other regiments surrendered to the German SS and were matched into a farmer's Field and shot. Two survived.
The owner of the farm has recently sold it and, when he was sorting out the barn, he came across two helmets which he offered to the Le Paradis Commemoration group of which I am one-fifth. It had presumably been in the barn hidden away since that fateful day.
It was decided that one of the helmets should remain in France and find a permanent place in the small museum outside the village church and the other should return to England.
My blog reader and friend Biddy Fisher was planning a trip/pilgrimage to the area to remember a relative. She wanted to take in Le Paradis and one of our members, John Head, managed to facilitate that visit. Biddy offered to bring one of the helmets back with her.
Now as anyone who has travelled on Eurostar from France will know, you cannot just bring war artifacts back. In fact on a recent trip back from France we were met at the Eurostar Station informing us of this very fact. Absolutely no war memorabilia.
So official permission had to be granted from the French authorities. They graciously gave that permission and so the helmet is now back where it almost certainly started its life, in Norfolk.
There is nothing on the helmet apart from a couple of metal buckles which would have had straps attached. The buckles on our helmet are engraved with the year 1938. The helmet in France is engraved with the year 1940. Was one an original helmet and one a replacement? We will probably never know.
Are we certain that the helmets came from soldiers killed in the massacre? Well as certain as we can be. The helmet was found in the barn at the farm. You can see where the badge was and it's recognisable as a Royal Norfolk insignia. Put two and two together and on this particular occasion it does add up to four.
We will probably never know who wore this helmet and whether it was their own personal issue. We will probably never know if it was worn by one of the soldiers we have identified as definitely being a victim of the massacre or whether it was a soldier that we haven't to date identified as one of those murdered.
And of course there's just a small possibility that one of the helmets belonged to one of the only two survivors - Private Bill O'Callaghan or Private Bert Pooley.
We will probably never know, but what we do know is that a piece of British history is back in our country. Now we must discuss where this artefact will find a home. We would certainly like it to be where the public can view it.
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It's quite a few years since we were staying on Cape Cod on the famous or infamous fourth of July.
We went to an Independence Day parade in a small town by the name of Barnstable. It was named after our Devon town of Barnstaple which used to be Barnstable but then changed its spelling. The Cape Cod town didn't change its spelling.
It was a lengthy procession of children, old vehicles and local groups. The most popular of these groups was the one with a simple message of "Let's be kinder to each other." That's certainly a message that applies both to the USA and the UK and probably most other countries in the world.
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What is Hollywood actor Hugh Jackman's connection with Norwich?
Some celebrities just don't want to be recognised or approached by the public. Jackman certainly isn't one of those.
Over the weekend he ate at Norwich's Waffle House. What did he do when he got recognised? He had his photo taken with all the staff, took a picture of his food and popped it on his social media feed.
So I was sitting in Cousin Belinda's lounge as she worked out his connection with Norfolk.
Jackman's parents are both British with his mother probably coming from Norwich, although we have been unable to confirm this 100 per cent. His father came from Cambridge. His parents emigrated to Australia under the £10 Poms passage - something that has recently featured in a television drama.
Jackman was born in Sydney. His parents subsequently divorced and his mother returned to live in Norwich and presumably at the weekend he was visiting her. He has dual Australian and British citizenship.
Hugh Jackman sounds like a regular kind of guy. I know this because he supports Norwich City.