February’s speaker was Sherry Richardson, who designs and makes hats, and is known as a “hatter who flatters”. She told us of her early memories of wearing hats and how stylish they made her feel. In her 30s, she did a City and Guilds course on millinery in Huddersfield. She modelled a variety of hats she made during this time, including a turban, fez, cloche and tiara. In 2005 she did the catwalk at the Great Yorkshire Show and pre-pandemic she worked with Gok Wan to produce beautiful, extravagant hats for his catwalk shows. We could see how Sherry is influenced by nature and the changing seasons in her designs, which feature her use of felt, leather, lace, sinamay (a lightweight natural product), paper, recycled and vintage millinery items. Many gorgeous hats to admire!