Burleydam Women's Institute

A talk by Ruth Ravenscroft.

‘If you want to get ahead, get a hat!’ is a very good tag line to use if you are Ruth Ravenscroft, who spoke to Burleydam W I on August 4th. Ruth, who now lives in Shrewsbury, recently retired as creative designer and is now as a consultant, at Lock and Co, the prestigious hatters of St James Street, London.

Ruth required transport from Shrewsbury, bringing a dozen or more hat boxes and bags
containing hats of all shapes, sizes and colours. She told us little about her earlier life, except that at one point she had gone to Copenhagen, because a friend was there and when asked what she could do ‘to earn a crust’, she said that she could sew!

However, in 2000, she returned to London and having no job, she ‘knocked on the door’ at Lock and Co, in St James Street, and asked if they had a job for her. Surprisingly, they said ‘Yes’ and she started work behind the counter at the renowned hat makers. The firm was founded in 1662 and are celebrating their 350 th anniversary this century.

Locks make hats for both men and women, and Ruth will have made and sold hats to the rich and famous, many of whom locks have made blocks for, which is the shape of their heads. So even if Catherine, Princess of Wales rang to say she needed a hat to go with a certain coat, they could find or make her a hat that would fit her. For instance, when making for Joan Collins, they had to allow for the big hair -everyone’s head is different!

Ruth met and made and designed hats for all of them, some were regulars who called in the shop for a chat. But they needed all types of hat, from your smart Ascot variety to a tweed deerstalker for a shooting party. Ruth also showed us a couple of Liberty print hats she had designed for Grayson Perry! What a lot of fun she must have had and so did we when she chose a hat for each of us to wear.

First, she looked at our face, was it narrow or wide, fat or thin, were we tall or short, and then she went to her display of hats on their hat stands, picked out one that she thought would suit us and put it on our heads as it should be worn. Wow! Some had large Ascot hats, other looked better in a cloche or a boater with ribbons, so we all had a hat, even Monty , the dog!

Ruth was thanked most sincerely by Margaret, for her talk and insight into a different way of life, but also for the effort involved in getting all those hats in their boxes to show us.

In the business meeting members were reminded about the Malbank Group meeting on
September 15th to be held ar the Malbank School instead of the football ground.
One of our previous speakers, Tullis Matson, who is the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Shropshire, asked if Burleydam W I would like to knit poppies to use in Remembrance Day wreaths. Several members offered to try. The W I bridge Drive in the Community Room will be on Saturday, October 24th.

The next meeting is on Tuesday, September 1st at 7.30pm in the Community Meeting Room.

Visitors and new members always welcome.
Visit our website www.burleydamwi.org to see what we have been up to this year