Feltmakers Raise £3,915 for Charity at the Red Cross Christmas Market.

The champagne flowed freely at London’s Guildhall on the evening of November 30th as the Lady Mayoress, Mrs. Clare Anstee officially opened the biennial British Red Cross two day Christmas fair in the presence of H.R.H. The Princess Alexandra. After the opening the Princess toured the Fair and graciously stopped for a chat at the Feltmakers’ stall, which was absolutely buzzing with eager buyers of the beautiful millinery that had been donated by the hat trade.

Many previous customers made a bee-line for our beautiful display of colourful millinery and expressed the thought that they ‘knew they’d find something special’ on our stand, which was one of eleven voluntary stalls run by Livery Companies and who were donating all their takings to the Red Cross.

“We are enormously grateful for the great generosity of all the milliners, hat factories, shops and private individuals who responded so well to our appeal for hat donations,” said the Master, Susan Wood, “providing us with such a wide selection of head-gear for ladies and gentlemen, for summer and winter, both casual and dressy”.

This year, the Master decided to add a bit of interest to the stand by putting her Master’s hat on display – a nice touch, except that on more than one occasion during busy periods customers were caught admiring themselves in the mirror wearing the tricorn and asking the price, only to be disappointed when we told them that it was not for sale!

None of this, of course, would have been possible without considerable preparation  and the assistance of a number of Liverymen, spouses and friends who brought with them much good humour and fun to make the two days an enjoyable experience for all.

This year the Red Cross decided to make the Fair a two day event instead of three days as in previous years and we realised it would probably be an impossible task to reach anything like our 2007’s achievement of £3,657, but our final result surpassed all our hopes, realising a sensational figure of just under £4,000 which made all the hard work so very worthwhile.

Music on the opening evening was provided by The City of London School for Girls String Ensemble

Our thanks to the following companies and individuals for millinery donations:-

Aldermen’s Wives,  Eda Rose Millinery,  Edwina Ibbotson,   Failsworth Hats,  Ian Wright,  James Lock, JaneWay,  Jessica Clifford,  John Boyd,   John Lewis plc,   Kirsten Scott of Kensington & Chelsea School of Art,   Louise Claire Millinery, Marie O’Regan,  Net-a-Porter,   Noel Stewart,   Rachel Trevor-Morgan,  Siggi,   Stephen Jones,    The Whiteley  Hat Company,  Titfertat, Tom Llewellyn,  and Richard and John Horn for kindly storing and delivering to London.

Eda Rose-Lawson