hats off to uk's first hat day celebration
UK’s first official celebration of ‘World Hat Day’ to be held in Gloucester
The 15th of January 2013 is sure to be a day the nation takes their hats off to… or rather puts their hats on!
From the 2012 Gloucester Hat Festival that created four city ‘cultural hat zones’ to attracting the world famous milliner Stephen Jones, Gloucester will now be part of the exciting, new celebration of World Hat Day. The celebration is already planned to involve various free hat related activities including: building Gloucester’s largest willow hat structure, a chocolate hat hunt and a world hat quiz.
The event will take place at one of Gloucester’s most historic buildings, Blackfriars Priory, with opportunities for schools, youth groups and general public and is due to feature live music played by young musicians from the community.
Anna Buckland (Global Arts) organiser of the celebrations for World Hat Day says “World Hat Day is not just about hats like everyone thinks, it’s about community. It’s about bringing people together. A hat, in itself is the vehicle for making everything happen. The city of Gloucester has some of the most fascinating culture and beautiful architecture in the UK. We are hoping that by making events like this an annual, tradition we can inspire the city to host more celebrations and festivals”.
The celebration of World Hat Day will be held at Gloucester’s Blackfriars Priory between 1.30pm and 8.30pm on the 15th January 2013. It is free to schools attending from 1.30pm-3.00pm and youth groups from 4.15pm-6.00pm by prior booking (email: annabuckland@live.co.uk) before 21st December 2012.
Hat wearing public (zany, cultural and traditional hats!) are welcome to the event from 7.00pm-8.30pm at a cost of 50p and all proceeds will be donated to the cancer support charity Cedars Amethyst Trust and the organisation Gloucestershire Young Carers.
Expert milliner Noel Stewart says “I’m thrilled to hear that Gloucestershire is celebrating World Hat Day and I look forward to seeing lots of wonderful hats and hat related events”.
To view The Gloucester Hat Festival 2012 see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PVJLejUHTc