Press Release
Behatted party of 46 and three vintage vehicles form the core of the Feltmakers’ Company float (No. 34) at the 2024 Lord Mayor’s Show
Artistry, Elegance, Flamboyance and Mistery from the United Kingdom’s world-class milliners and the wider hat making industry are the focus of The Worshipful Company of Feltmakers’ stunning float in the Lord Mayor’s Show on Saturday 9th November. The float comprises 46 walkers including newly admitted Liverymen leading milliners Fleur Curtis, a former winner of the Feltmaker Design Awards in 2021 and 2023, and Victoria Carson.
Escorted by two youngsters from Zunft zur Waag, the Company’s float will be led by Jeremy Bedford, who became Master in October 2024 and will be accompanied for the first part of the procession by Brain Tumour Research Patron and renowned British garden designer and television presenter Danny Clarke, “The Black Gardener”, currently a member of Alan Titchmarsh’s Love Your Garden team. Danny lost his sister Margot McLennan, aged only 52, to a glioblastoma (GBM).
Accompanying The Master are also Liveryman Emma Heal, daughter of Past Master the late Nicholas Heal, and other representatives of the Livery’s chosen charities, Brain Tumour Research and the Master’s nominated charity SSAFA, which cares for Armed Forces veterans and military families. Along with support for the Lord Mayor’s Appeal, these charities are important Feltmaker causes.
Emma is sporting a bespoke felt pink Top Hat designed and crafted by Lock & Co. in the colours of Brain Tumour Research to demonstrate the Livery’s support for the charity. Lieutenant General Sir Andrew Gregory (retd.) KBE CB DL and Brigadier David Santa-Olalla (retd.) DSO MC, the Controller and Regional Chairman, Greater London of SSAFA respectively, are wearing top hats adorned in the SSAFA colours. Dan Knowles, Chief Executive of Brain Tumour Research is sporting a pink Top Hat in BTR colours.
In addition to Tricorns, hats worn today include designs by millinery students from colleges affiliated to the Livery, and hatter and milliner Victoria Carson designed four of the ladies’ hats in Brain Tumour Research colourways, the styles being a veiled Boater with a tall crown, a wide brimmed Fedora with crinoline trim, a Pillbox headpiece with hand dyed goose and coque feathers, and a small brimmed Trilby with ostrich feather quill decoration. Other styles worn today include a Percher (sits atop of the head) and Beret.
Liveryman Judy Bentinck, renowned milliner and winner of the UK Enterprise Awards Best Luxury Milliner 2024, has embellished three of the ladies’ hats and two gentlemen’s, including an unusual heavy-duty protective gentleman’s Cambridge Bowler as worn by Cambridge University Proctors and other security personnel, and Oddjob in the Bond movie Goldfinger. The original Bowler was designed by the great-grandfather of Past Master John Bowler MC to protect gamekeepers from poachers, and lighter versions have been adopted by HRH The Prince of Wales and the late Sir Winston Churchill. Other gentlemen’s styles include, Fedora, Homburg (a single dent running down the centre of the crown), Tweed, Tricorn, and Top Hat.
Liverymen present include Past Masters Simon Wilkinson, Nigel Lock Macdonald, Lady Yarrow, and Edward Hutton.
The Feltmakers will also be represented in the Golden State Coach. Alastair King DL, the City of London’s 696th Lord Mayor, is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Feltmakers. He is the fourth Feltmaker to take up the office of Lord Mayor, preceded by Sir Louis Newton (1923) Sir High Wontner (1973) and most recently Sir William Russell from 2019 to 2021.
The Lord Mayor will be wearing a bespoke Tricorn hat presented to him by the Feltmakers in a long standing tradition. This year the Feltmakers commissioned Lock & Co. to create a lightweight durable Tricorn from a single piece of felt, and have adorned it with the actual badge and chain decoration first worn by a Lord Mayor 170 years ago, mirroring its exact design.
The Master Feltmaker will be part of the Guard of Honour of Masters of Livery Companies welcoming the Lord Mayor when he arrives back at The Mansion House after the Return Procession. The Master Feltmaker will be identifiable by his black Tricorn hat adorned with white plumes.
Feltmaker origins date back to 1180 as a UK craft association and the Feltmakers Company was incorporated by Letters Patent granted by James I in 1604. The global market for hats, caps and millinery was $9.21 billion in 2023 is projected to reach $14.33 billion by 2032, driven by both the desire to keep pace with the latest fashion trends as well as an increasing awareness about the need for sun protection.
Three classic Model T Fords dating 1916 – 1926 will lead the float, and The Livery thanks Bernard Eamer, Peter Lawrence and Nigel Hammond for their provision.
The Livery has a close association with Luton, a centre of the English hat making industry. A core of ten manufacturers remain in Luton alongside 15 other businesses associated with the hat trade. Luton’s heritage has led to generations of family members retaining hat making skills and technical ability, skills which are not easily replicated. Founded in 1885, Luton Town F.C. has been known since records began as The Hatters.
The Feltmakers today have many connections with the hat making and millinery industries. Its Charitable Foundation supports a number of City of London based charities as well as a number of people and organisations active in the world of millinery. The Company supports and fosters millinery design, especially in felt and to this end established in 1991 the Feltmaker Design Award, an annual competition open to fashion students from approved colleges and employees of trainee or apprentice status working in the headwear industry.
Jeremy Bedford, Master of the Worshipful Company of Feltmakers whose father Past Master Derek is a former Managing Director of Christys’ Hats, said:
“We are delighted to be supporting our fellow Feltmaker Lord Mayor, Alderman Alastair King on this special day. The Feltmakers have a long and proud history in the City dating back to 1604 and our trade stretches back to the first century when felt was first used in the British Isles.
“The Feltmakers are defined by our history, our trade, and our people, with the last of those being our greatest asset.”
Royal Warrant hatters Lock & Co., along with M Restaurant, have generously helped to sponsor the Feltmakers’ float. Lock & Co. is the oldest hatters in the world and is believed also to be the oldest family business in the world. Testament to its long-standing pre-eminence in global hat making was the arrival of a package from overseas in the 19th Century addressed simply: “To the finest hatters in the World, London, England.” It was indeed one of theirs!
M Restaurant is an award winning City restaurant and bar, located at 60 Threadneedle Street. Famous for its Wagyu steaks along with four outstanding private dining spaces, the restaurant has become a City institution and this year celebrates a decade of serving the City.
Model T Ford Vintage Vehicles
- Vehicle 1 is a Black Model T Tourer assembled in 1916 and is one of the last “brass radiator” models as the material was required for the war effort. The main assembly line was at Ford’s Detroit factory. However, kits were shipped around the world, with the wood from the crates becoming the floors of the vehicles to save costs. Before being shipped to the UK in 2020, the vehicle attended numerous rallies around Fort Worth under the 27 years of ownership by Bernard’s predecessor owner.
- Vehicle 2 is a blue flatbed Ton Truck or TT. It is believed to have been assembled in 1919 in Ford’s Trafford Park Manchester Factory after the engine and chassis were shipped separately from the USA. The rear axle is also much heavier having been redesigned to cope with the load carrying capacity and this reduces the maximum road speed to about 15 mph – still fast in comparison with a horse and cart. The truck attended the 2019 Lord Mayor’s Show as part of the Feltmakers float.
- Vehicle 3 “Gordon” is a 1926 Tourer Model T in Black and Jade Green. He was first registered in Canelones, South of Uruguay, South Africa under the number plate 600-784 A CANALONES and arrived in the UK in 1926. Gordon has toured the UK and took part in a rally in front of Balmoral Castle and visited the home of Michael Flatley in Co. Kerry, Ireland. Over 15 million were made in a number of body styles seating four / five and two, the chassis and engine remaining a constant.
Feltmakers – the Hat Makers’ Livery
The Feltmakers Company is a modern, thriving and very relevant influencer of the modern trades and international business. The hat making industry in the UK represents the very highest standards of quality, design, high fashion and craftsmanship in the World. These businesses export globally and generate considerable revenues for the UK Economy.
Additionally, new Innovation with modern felt applications continue to evolve, used for insulation in automotive and space technologies, in modern buildings for both sound and heat insulation, in water filtration – largely in Developing Countries. Synthetic felt is also being researched and developed at British Universities working with leading Industry expert manufacturers this generates new patents, innovations and commercial growth.
The Company promotes and runs its own Industry leading Design Awards, where we mentor young designers and apprentices through Universities and Colleges, with entries from across the globe with substantial cash prizes and recognition. This provides opportunity and exposure for up and coming designers, craftsmen and women to showcase their talents and to get guidance, help and advice from world leading Manufacturers and Designers with real world knowledge and experience.
Zunft zur Waag (float 33)
The Livery invited the Waag to have an adjoining float in the 2019 Lord Mayor’s Show, and strong bonds have existed since 2008. The Waag dates back to 1287 and remains prominent in the fourteen Guilds of Zurich.
This year a contingent of 180 Waag Guild members and musicians will precede the Feltmaker float, dressed splendidly in their traditional costumes and walking to the sound of the Zurich City Police Band.
Brain Tumour Research
The charity funds sustainable research at dedicated centres in the UK. It also campaigns for the Government and larger cancer charities to invest more in research into brain tumours in order to speed up new treatments for patients and, ultimately, to find a cure. The charity is the driving force behind the call for a national annual spend of £35 million in order to improve survival rates and patient outcomes in line with other cancers such as breast cancer and leukaemia.
SSAFA – The Master’s designated charity 2024 / 25
For 139 years, SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity has supported serving members of the British Armed Forces, veterans and their families. While most individuals leave the military successfully, the charity assists around 60,000 people annually who do need help, dealing with debt, addictions, relationship breakdown, homelessness, depression, disability and more through the combined efforts of staff and 2,500 volunteers.
SSAFA ensures those who have fought to protect our freedom and democracy will never battle alone as they seek to regain their independence and dignity.
Media Enquiries:
Julian Bosdet
Liveryman
Julian.bosdet@abchurch-group.com
www.feltmakers.co.uk
+44 (0)207 4594 4070
+44 (0) 7771 663 886
Jeremy Bedford
Master
master2024@feltmakers.co.uk
+44 (0) 7850 095 265
Key Links
| 2024 Lord Mayor’s Show | www.lordmayorsshow.london |
| The Worshipful Company of Feltmakers | www.feltmakers.co.uk |
| Brain Tumour Research | Brain Tumour Research | Together we will find a cure |
| SSAFA | SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity |
| The Black Gardener Danny Clarke | Home – The Black Gardener Danny Clarke |
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