Summer Straw Hat making with Kilgrimol Heritage Crafts

Come and join local Living History enthusiast Heather as she brings to life crafts from the Northwest’s Heritage. Demonstrating the slowly vanishing skills that went into producing our clothing using natural materials.

This month’s session focuses on Making a Summer Hat Using Natural Materials

Status: Critically Endangered

Blackpool Donkeys would be nothing without the iconic straw hat.

Once a bustling industry, (when no respectable person of any age headed outside without a head covering), summer boaters and fashionable fascinators were once a practical and fashionable staple accessory across the UK. What was everyday and commonplace is now becoming more difficult to source in natural materials.

Traditional hat-making didn’t just use straw, you could use reeds, rushes or local grasses to keep the glaring sun out of your eyes. Often seen in medieval manuscripts, it is believed this everyday item could be older and even prehistoric in origin.

If you look after a hat, it can last you many years. Heather will show you how to create a new straw hat that will keep the sun out of your eyes and the wind out of your hair in the years ahead.

book here

Inspired by Heritage Crafts Red List, we’re focusing on endangered crafts. To see the full list of crafts please visit our website

ACCESS & VENUE

Access: If you have additional access needs (e.g. large print, BSL interpreter, level access) Please let us know by emailing or sending us an SMS text/WhatsApp message on 07957 602790‬

These sessions are in our upstairs workshop space. There is currently no level access. It’s a single flight of 14 steps then you go around the corner and there are two small steps. Once you’re upstairs there’s a loo. You shouldn’t need to come downstairs for anything until the end of the event.

If you can’t manage the stairs but really want to attend, please let us know by emailing (using the contact organiser button/link) or sending us an SMS text/WhatsApp message on 07957 602790 and will try our best to accommodate.

Getting here

• Tram to North Pier
• Bus:
• No 6 or 18 bus to Topping St.
• No 3, 3a, 5c, 6, 18 to Church St (Stanley Buildings)
• No 5, 5a, 5b, 6, 7a, 14 to Talbot Rd
• Driving: The closest pay and display car parks are on East Topping St and Talbot Road multi storey. There is also parking at the nearby Sainsbury’s supermarket, please make sure that you check the terms before you use the car park.