A mask for Auntie Edith

The new mask I’d ordered arrived - excellent! Made of cotton (only two layers but with a pocket for an extra one), washable, and very cool to wear compared with the disposable kind. No steaming up! Although I may replace those straggly tapes with elastic.....

The colours of the stripes are those of the suffragette movement. Edith, whose occupation in the 1911 census was recorded as ‘political organiser’, worked in a munitions factory during WWI but then died in the subsequent  ‘flu pandemic. I’ve seen some photos from the time of people wearing masks but don’t know if it was widespread. I would so love to have met her.