ON entering the Hall for our meeting on 13 April, we were greeted by a myriad of colours, from hats in all shapes and sizes, which had been brought along by Catherine Clark, our speaker for the evening. Catherine runs a successful hat hire business, and in addition to hats, she had brought along a selection of her large collection of hats, beautiful fascinators, handbags and ‘hatinators’ (a new word on us – but it’s more than a fascinator and less than a hat!). Catherine gave us some tips on choosing a hat, from size to colour and shape to suit individuals, and also showed us how to make it fit snugly by adding a home-made padded band inside the crown. She is always looking ahead as fashions change, and buys her hats direct from the manufacturers six months in advance of the seasons.

Catherine told us a little about her career, having been discouraged from following her preferred career path into horticulture, she joined Harrods’ training scheme to become a fashion buyer, starting as a junior in the corsetry department. Later she became women’s fashion buyer for House of Fraser. Later, after her marriage, she spent several years working for the NCT, then in a bank, before moving back into fashion and HATS!

In addition to current fashions, Catherine also collects hats from bygone eras, and brought some from the 1940’s through the 20th century to show us. These evoked many memories, either of hats worn by ourselves or by mothers and grandmothers!

Amongst the business items there were reports on several successful events during the month, including a visit to the Archive and Archaeology Department at The Hive, a pub lunch at Bishampton and open meetings at other institutes.

The Hampton team participated in the Group Quiz, and although they didn’t win, had enjoyed the evening. It’s the taking part that counts!

Some members would be attending the Lucy Hingley Lecture at the University of Worcester, on 25 May on the subject of Macular Degeneration.

Members were reminded that the May meeting would be the Resolutions Meeting, when the two resolutions going forward to the AGM will be discussed. These were on the topics of Loneliness and ‘Plastic Soup’ - Pollution caused by plastics. Alison Hewitt is coming along to give a short talk on the Breast Care Unit, which had been postponed from January. Members were asked to bring along old bras, to give to Alison in support of the unit. The meeting will be followed by a fish and chip supper.

Looking forward, we will be having our next bi-monthly lunch on 18 May, when we will be supporting the Working World Café at Woodlands, following the interesting talk given by the founder of Working World at our last meeting.

Another Strawberry Tea at Hampton Farm Shop was suggested for July, after the success of last year’s event.

If you would like to join us at one of our meetings, do come along. We are always pleased to see visitors and you will be made very welcome. We meet in Hampton Guide and Scout Community Hall on the second Thursday of the month at 7.30pm. For further information, please contact our Secretary, Joyce Davey on 01386 443755.

LIZ RODWAY