HMS Dauntless, a Royal Navy Destroyer, visited Barbados 17-20 October, with a packed programme of activities both formal and informal, many of which focussed on relationships across the generations. HMS Dauntless has deployed to the Caribbean Sea to counter drugs smugglers alongside the US Coast Guard and to provide support and reassurance during the hurricane season from June to November.

Delighted to honour one of the remaining veterans of WW2, the Commanding Officer, Commander Ben Dorrington visited Mrs Ena Collymore-Woodstock OBE, a 106-year-old former radar operator in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. Mrs Collymore-Woodstock, a former Magistrate in Jamaica now resident in Barbados with her daughter and family, was pleased to meet later generations of the military led by Commander Dorrington, Chaplain Rev Janice Honey-Morgan and Petty Officer Corrine Adams, Underwater Warfare Specialist.

The Caribbean Youth Environment Network (CYEN) arranged for one group of sailors to join them in a beach clean-up at Skeete’s Bay, St Philip, where locals thanked them for their service. CYEN will analyse the largely plastic flotsam and jetsam collected – from shoes to lollipop sticks and toothbrushes – as part of vital research to help inform efforts to tackle marine pollution especially from plastics. And a team of keen naval footballers kicked off against the BDF – in a tightly fought contest, the Barbados team won 1-0.

And on the more formal side, members of government, the BDF, the consular and diplomatic corps and the business community were treated to a sunset flag-lowering ceremony on the ship’s flight deck, having enjoyed traditional naval hospitality.