My Mother was one of five children born and brought up there to my Grandparents-Mliss and James Hanley Garnham. My Grandfather (Grandad) was a shipwright and inventor-owner of a real golden eagle, and three fish and chip shops. My Grandmother (Nan) was the giver of sloppy kisses and home cooked bread. They both had died by the time I was six.

My Mother’s brother James joined the Navy and was the Button Boy at Naval ceremonies in Shotly. The Button Boy was the young cadet who had to stand on the button at the very top of the mast, which is still visible across the river from Harwich today - even though the Royal Naval college has closed. Sadly he was killed in WWII serving for the Royal Navy as a navigator in a Swordfish torpedo plane in the Aegean near Greece. My mother had to leave school at fourteen to sew naval uniforms in a factory called Bernard’s in Harwich. She also met my dad here during the war.

So… I have a strong connection and fondness for the place, it’s been a really big part of my life and a lot of my relatives still live there.

As well as my Harwich family history I also have a keen interest in apprenticeships and am incredibly passionate about keeping UK craftsmanship and manufacturing alive and flourishing. It’s a big part of the ethos of Jane and mine’s fine jewellery company and weirdly my Grandfather also had the same interests… he started (probably the first) youth club in Bath Side for tough young kids that needed to find a purpose and value to life, and it is for all these reasons that I feel real empathy for the Mayflower project and why we wanted to get involved. I’m hoping that we can contribute in however small a way to the charity’s success!” ~ Stephen Einhorn