OUR Friendship Circle held its first meeting of the year on Tuesday, January 21, 2015.

It was very well attended considering how cold the weather was.

Rosalind our Chairperson gave apologies for those unable to attend and welcomed two new members to the group.

She also asked for feedback on our Christmas Celebration Party and was pleased that the comments expressed were very positive.

Our speaker for this meeting was Alex Stanbrook and her subject was 'Hilarious Hats'.

Prior to starting her talk Alex set out a fine display of various types of women's hats.

Alex had trained as a milliner and had her own shop in Gloucester for many years.

She talked about the history of hats and in particular the use of hats since the beginning of the last century.

Hats as with various other aspects of clothing indicated so much about ones position in society and could increase a person's confidence and style.

Alex had many humorous stories to impart relating to her subject of hats.

As each story was relayed a different hat would be worn by her, demonstrating the difference a hat could make to ones appearance and demeanour.

For example a big brim on a hat would make a person look slimmer.

Wearing a hat meant that you could be 'looked over rather than overlooked'.

A veil on a hat could give the impression that the person wanted to appear mysterious.

We were surprised to learn that hats had been worn for many centuries and some of the earliest date back 5,000BC.

Originally hatters made hats and milliners (formerly from Milan) added the trimming.

In times of austerity hats inevitably became smaller as people had less money to spend on them and smaller hats cost less to produce.

The cloche hat and the percher hat are examples of this.

Our Deputy Chairperson Sita thanked Alex for giving such as interesting and amusing talk.

The members agreed that it had been a very enjoyable afternoon and they had appreciated Alex's skill in making the subject of hats so entertaining.

Our meetings take place on the third Tuesday of each month and new members are always welcome.

For more information contact Ann on 01453 763511.