During our stay, a certain young Bradley celebrated his 9th birthday. It’s Pitcairn tradition to have a public dinner for a birthday and with our crew ashore Bradley had a huge public dinner. Bradley made a point of informing the Captain of his birthday, telling him to invite all the crew and to instruct them all to bring him presents. The Captain did just what he was told. As Bradley’s birthday dinner was on the first day
ashore for the starboard watch, the Captain radioed out to the ship to let the crew know they were expected to be there, to come to the party with presents in hand. Every single person on the island attended that night, bringing heaps of food, much of it traditional island dishes. All of the dishes were put out on tables in the Square and there was so much food that even if you had only a teaspoon of food from each dish, you wouldn’t have been able to sample everything. Bradley had a chocolate birthday cake and everyone sang to him. As he had almost thirty extra birthday dinner guests who were instructed to bring gifts, he did very well with birthday presents, scored big time, much to his delight, receiving things like soccer balls, sunglasses, art supplies, mini army men, and piles of candy.