Cowboy Hats and Wedding Hats.

 Why Hats Make Me Happy!

Hats have always been a part of my life. I suppose they represent all the happy memories I have as a child and into adulthood. They make me smile. I have hundreds of photographs and the one’s where I’m wearing a hat, bring back such happy memories.

It started with a cowboy hat. I was a bit of a tomboy and on a holiday at Beacholme in Cleethorpes my Uncle Bri bought a cowboy hat and I wore it all week. Uncle Bri never saw it again!

Then there was the Easter Bonnet parade at the local working men’s club. We spent days making our bonnets before parading them in front of all the adults on a Sunday afternoon.

Whitsuntide and the Whit Sunday Walk always involved a new hat and Christmas was all about party hats and funny hats. 

Family weddings were huge hat occasions.  They were more about the hat than the outfit. 

So it seems that hats are in my blood! They take me to my happy place.

Mum had a collection of wedding hats. She bought a new one for every family wedding and I had 18 cousins so there were lots of weddings! Mum  never gave them away and a couple of years after she died we found them and organised  a photoshoot. Once again hats were making me smile.

I could mention that my favourite book is “The Cat in the Hat” and that as a teenager one of the first albums I bought was “Stardust” by David Essex and I played Hats off to Larry by Del Shannon on repeat for months much to the dismay of my older sister who was into Bay City Rollers!

Into adulthood I have a fascination with hats. I have a habit of taking random pictures of complete strangers wearing funny hats and I can’t resist trying on every hat in the local vintage charity shop. My friends and family cringe when we go near a hat shop because not only do I insist on trying them all on I make them join in too.

I even took dozens of hats on a day trip to Ilkley just in case we got the chance to sing that old classic “On Ilkley Moor Bart Hat”

I had no idea growing up that my love of hats would one day lead me the Brain Tumour Charity and “Wear a Hat Day” I had no idea that my growing collection of hats would support my good friends who tragically lost their son to a brain tumour in 2018. He was 28 years old. He was the same age as my daughter and he had his whole life ahead of him.

Now I have never lost a child but I have spoken to mums who have lost children. I have listened as mums talk of losing their baby in early pregnancy and mums who deliver their baby still and asleep. One of the things that upsets them more than anything is that they never got the chance to see them grow up. 

Well Imagine losing your child at 28.  You have seen them grow up. You have kept them safe as a child and watched proudly as they grow into young adults. They leave university with honours, pass their driving test, travel the world. You stand back with pride as they begin to make plans to settle down and buy their own home and maybe one day have a family. 

Then cancer strikes and it is not only your hopes and dreams as a mum that are shattered but also those of your son! For me that is a double loss! 

I am blessed. I have not had to endure this pain but I have friends who have. I have listened as they have tried to explain their grief and there is no explanation. They are angry as well as upset but the only thing they can do is raise awareness and funds to support other families who have to deal with the horrors that a brain tumour brings. 

Supporting “Wear a Hat Day” is my way of supporting my friends as well as my reason for keeping all my hats!

My mum always reckoned that some things happen for a reason. Well I have no idea what reason there could ever be to lose a child but it seems that the reason I have always loved hats is to bring a smile to those close to me when they need it the most. Thanks mum for your wisdom and for love of hats which I have obviously inherited from you and my nan.