A Panama Hat

My Mum in Law - J's Mum - did not have many "things". In fact she was uninterested in material things. 

Plenty of clothes and other things have gone to charity shops, and that is where other things are likely to end up. It is all a bit sad, this period of sorting out stuff after a life has ended . 

Having said which - this panama hat is interesting. It belonged to J's Dad. Where he got it from we have no idea, it is hardly his "style". Maybe from a mate down the Periwinkle. 

J's sister was looking at it, it lives in it's original hat box - a milliner based in Cheapside, Barnsley. And tucked inside the rim, and folded a lot, presumably to make it a bit more comfortable to wear, is the front page of the Barnsley Chronicle of January 1st 1944. It talks about the fact that this has been the fifth Christmas of the war, and about patients in hospital getting their turkey and plum pudding. Maybe the original owner got this as a  Christmas  present, a fantasy gift in the middle of a period of turmoil.

Mid afternoon we met up with 13South, a fellow blipper. Good to see her again, on a day not conducive to good photography